Eco-Smart Home: eco-design technologies for living

"From a thousand years, Sher, a little Tibetan village, remains stubbornly clinging to his life, despite his unhappy position, perched as it is on a narrow ledge flat situated on the rapid slope of a mountain. This place, on the arid plateau of Tibet, receives only eighty millimeters of precipitation a year, but every drop is collected in an ancient irrigation system. The average annual temperature is around zero, and from December to February, the mercury can fall between -20°C and -30°C. ... The little village of Sher depends on three forces: the sun, the rain and the wisdom to use well the resources of nature. … Modern life leads to a decrease of this kind of ability and this wisdom" According to this approach that emphasizes rationalist duality of synergies established between the human being and his living natural environment, the Laboratory of Indoor Sustainable Technologies of the Degree's Course of Architecture at the Second University of Naples (academic year 2012-2013 , lecturers: Lab A - prof. Antonella Violano) carried out a challenging didactic experience. The course aimed to teach the theoretical principles and methodological tools of technological eco-design. The theme of the course is to design an ECO-SMART HOME of 60 m2 for a couple of intellectuals, located in a place near the Mediterranean Sea, atop a cliff oriented to South characterized by a rock and four trees. The objective is to design a private house on the basis of "Environmentally Friendly Behaviour", fit for the future in according to the 2010/31/UE Directive. The specific topics of the laboratory are related to: Application of the principle of Environmentally Friendly Behaviour in technological design and the criteria of ITACA Protocol 2011 Charrette: understand the needs of the direct users: a couple of intellectuals Principles of indoor quality Building materials with low environmental impact Sustainable technologies for the design of light and opaque envelope: windows, walls, floors, panelling and finishes; Domotics: how to transform the input requirements of the system in technological solution, Integration of innovative sustainable and energy-efficient technologies. Each group of students will prepare a graphic and descriptive work divided into three steps: PART I - THE META DESIGN: Finding: needs, requirements and performance for a residential building that can be called eco-smart PART II - THE DESIGN: Defining building characteristics: spatial conformation, technological, functional and environmental performance PART III - THE TECHNOLOGICAL QUALITY OF DESIGN: Study of innovative technology - building automation - applicable to the design of interior space, according to the conceptual approach of "Quality as possible." This contribution illustrates the more relevant design solutions and the cognitive process that led the students to draw an house energetically efficient, functional from the point of view of distribution, environmentally smart