B I P V i n t h e R e c o v e r y o f M i n o r H i s t o r i c a l C e n t e r s
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BIPV IN THE RECOVERY OF MINOR HISTORICAL CENTERS.
THE PROJECT OF INTEGRABILITY BETWEEN STANDARD AND
CUSTOMIZED TECHNOLOGY
Pierluigi De Berardinis
1
& Pierluigi Bonomo
2
1
Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Faculty of Engineering of University of L’Aquila,
2
University of Pavia in the consortium with the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning of the
University of L’Aquila
Abstract
The building integration of photovoltaics (BIPV) applied to the recovery project, has
shown, in various forms and with different degrees of success, interesting possibilities for
architectural and technological upgrading of the pre-existence, including a high
acceptability in sensitive contexts. The basic built of historic "minor" settlements, typical
of the Italian building heritage (consisting of a network of small centres with high
historical, landscape and environmental value) poses new methodological challenges to
the conservation project related to the control of energetic of and eco-sustainability
aspects. In the revitalization of these places, typically characterized by a pre-modern
material culture that forms the main testimonial value, the implementation of bioclimatic
strategies and systems for using renewable energies, requires an accurate process to
verify the
integrability
, variable in each case and to articulate at different scales: from
building components to the village dimension (roads, open spaces, urban voids ...). In a
contemporary context increasingly oriented towards the "mass customization" of the
building industry, the study of forms of integration may take advantage from an
innovative "craft dimension" of technology which, more and more adaptable to the
design paradigm of the "micro-intervention" and "controlled transformation" (thanks to
the control of technological and figural details at scale of the component or base
material), shows new scenarios of "compatibility" compared to the degree of
"transformability" of these places. The proposed study is aimed to narrow design BIPV
paradigms for the recovery of these historical contexts, in particular by defining strategic
criteria related to linguistic-architectural and technological-constructive aspects of solar
systems (including case-studies in specific application contexts). This research would,
once perfected and shared, creating a critical and operative tools (guidelines, case
studies ...) really applicable to common scale, e.g. in today's post-earthquake
reconstruction of L'Aquila, for control adequate BIPV interventions within a specific eco-
friendly method of recovery.
Keywords:
BIPV, historical settlements, sustainable recovery, photovoltaic integration,
integrability.
Introduction
The acronym BiPV (Building integrated Photovoltaics) denotes a principle or, more
generally, a design approach for which the photovoltaic (PV) system is designed not only
as a system for energy production, but mainly as architectural and constructive element
of the building envelope: the solar system thus becomes a technological element,
component of constructive equipment and, at the same time, a
solar design
tool for the
expressiveness of architectural language. The analysis of the relationship between PV
