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Building sector focuses on surpassing challenges linked to energy efficiency and mitigation measures related to greenhouse gas emissions, in consequence, it needs to improve building performance in the interest of decreasing impact over environment. Buildings with reduced long-term operating cost, environmental-friendly and moderate construction costs can be achieved only by multi-object optimization and cross-disciplinary analysis, embodying a holistic approach. Following the main principles of the holistic sustainable design approach, the paper presents a sustainable experimental modular laboratory involving various strategy in regard with sustainable building, as resource, cost and material efficiency, health and well-being, environmentally conscious design, life cycle design, modular design, reusable/recyclable element, environment-friendly demolition method, safety design, consideration of life cycle cost, materials cost and waste disposal cost. Besides the installation of renewable energy sources and conservation of energy, the holistic construction of laboratory included also an integrated design with consideration for technology, operation and maintenance, which involved the implementation of a monitored energy management system. The system provides an accurate overview of the building’s performance during operational phase. Although the monitoring is still in an incipient phase, recordings showed promising results regarding the behaviour of recycled-PET thermal wadding used for insulation and indoor comfort conditions.

Wedge or tapered foundations of buildings, which have greater top cross-sections than bottom ones, are not often considered as a design option due to their shape. However, precast wedge foundations could be considered as “quick foundation systems” in case of light structures which should be rapidly installed. Similar to tapered piles, this foundation shape can offer besides the bottom base resistance, a good lateral contact between the inclined concrete faces and the surrounding soil. The paper presents the experimental results of two wedge foundation specimens subjected to axial compression tests conducted in accordance to actual standards. The results recorded on sites are presented under the form of pressure-settlement diagrams and are compared with similar values recorded for usual prismatic foundations. The study is completed by an environmental impact analysis made on the two systems along with potential benefits and loads, beyond the system boundary, at the foundations’ end-of-life.

The paper focuses on the investigation of the potential environmental impact related to the production of several types of bituminous mixtures containing different dosages of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and Rejuvenator (Rej). All materials used in the presented study are specific and generally used for pavements in Romania. The RAP material was considered as an inert material and it was used in three dosages (25%, 50% and 75%). For the bituminous mixture produced with 50% RAP material, a rejuvenator consisting in a mixture of vegetal oils was used in three dosages of 0.2%, 0.4% and 0.6% by mass of RAP material. A total of seven types of bituminous mixtures were considered including one ‘conventional’ mixture produced with virgin materials and used as reference. The Environmental Impact Assessment was estimated for the production process of the analysed bituminous mixtures, by using Eco-indicator 99 method within SimaPro software. The results prove that the addition of RAP material leads to a net decrease of the energy use and environmental impact. Besides, when rejuvenators are used in this process, they can affect the energy balance and reduce the difference in environmental impact.

Steel façade systems follow the actual tendencies in construction offering robust and sustainable solutions, able to answer to actual conditions and to offer adequate interior thermal comfort. The modern sandwich panels provided by the current façade system producers combine the required thermal resistance by varying the thermal insulation material and its thickness with the required structural demands. In addition, the façade layer could be over-coated with different materials, thus offering the required architectural aspect. Other advantages of the systems rely on industrialized prefabrication, fast installation and adaptability. They could also be disassembled and reused. The study presents an analysis of some envelope solutions existing on the market for buildings made of thin-walled cold-formed steel structural systems. The study consists in an annual energetic analysis of Mineral Wool (MW)-based system and a more sustainable recycled-PET thermal wadding-system. The analysis includes for input the own-produced energy by power grids and additional national grid energy while for output heating / cooling and electric appliances are considered. The study is completed by a life-cycle environmental analysis. The study revealed that when the thermal insulations have nearly the same U-value, the environmental impact of the recycled-PET thermal wadding-based system is smaller than that of MW-based system. Although the environmental impact of the recycled-PET thermal wadding is higher in the production stage, the insulation quantity of the material needed for PET-recycled thermal wadding to accomplish the required thermal resistance is much smaller than that of MW. Moreover, the original material for the recycled-PET thermal wadding is 100% recycled which implies a certain benefit of circularity to the material. The study also proves that the glazing ratio has also an impact on the thermal performances of studied systems: by reducing the overall glazing ratio of the envelope, the solar gain drops significantly, which leads to an increased heating energy demand, in order to meet indoor thermal comfort.