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Current research directions in the field of both architecture and constructions are aimed towards satisfying the user's need in an ever-growing context that is struggling to drastically reduce energy consumption related to buildings. When designing housing units, that are always changing and evolving, it is imperative to consider developing a building envelope which seamlessly adapts to its surrounding climate conditions, so that exploiting and maintenance costs can be reduced according to the user's financial situation, as these are crucial facts in developing an energy efficient house. This paper presents the way in which elements such as plans and volume of buildings influence the specific annual energy consumption in order to ensure an interior thermal comfort characteristic to housing units. Several building plan configurations are analyzed, determined by using a modular unit, as well as different constructive structures of the envelope's components and exploitation of solar gains. The paper describes further on the extent to which specific annual energy consumption is influenced by these factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the topic of interest concerning dwelling conditions, the issues of the residential housing stock, of the large scale collective dwellings impaired by wear and tear, have been given a lot of attention in Western Europe, since the 8th decade of the last century. The rehabilitation of collective housing ensembles has become a major contemporary concern, requiring answers and solutions on a list of priorities, all the more so in the former communist countries, where the urban housing is mostly represented, for economic reasons, by the dense, large scale collective residential ensembles. Alongside the other components of the sustainable rehabilitation projects i.e., technical and constructive, architectural and urban, in an integrated and multidimensional approach, the psycho-social component cannot be minimised or ignored. The paper's objective is to define, develop and, finally, propose an holistic approach to intervention in the existing collective residential buildings in view of their sustainable rehabilitation, from a multidimensional architectural urban, socio-economic and ecologic perspective, through differentiated levels: from that of primary, basic residential units (apartments), to the group they are aggregated into (architectural object) and to the housing ensembles. The paper is not aimed only at physically renovating the architectural and urban components; its implicit objective, through the proposed measures, being to revitalize and regenerate the residential areas from a psycho-social perspective, as well, by limiting social segregation, stimulating microcommunity sociability, creating a beneficial, secure environment, enhancing life quality and dwelling satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Besides the benefits brought to the energy balance and to the interior comfort through the direct interventions on the envelope elements, a complex and multidimensional process of architectural rehabilitation, which operates on a spatial and morpho-functional level, could become an instrument for improving the overall quality of housing, the optimal and coherent functionality, the potentiation of good neighborly policy, an its ability of facilitating the social contact and stimulation of communication. The paper explores from this perspective the most important types of interventions: from those which consist only in the reevaluation and reshaping of the living space to those focused on the entire ensemble, including the reorganization of internal and external spaces. For the operations to have the target-effect, it is needed that the proposals of rehabilitation to be realized on different levels, depending on the context and situation, and to follow an economy of usage in conformity with the collective life wished by its inhabitants. The re(arrangement) of common areas, internal or external, presumes their investment as thresholds between public spaces, semiprivate spaces and familial spaces, their organization for an easy and adequate accessibility to the collective needs without assuming a perturbing role in the functionality of the residential units. Their functional role must be accompanied by the one that is environment-generator. Furthermore, between the qualitative aspects of a social collective residential building, which a rehabilitation process cannot ignore,it is also one of security - linked to the level of protection and safety, which a dwelling building, residential ensemble and its neighborhood offer, these being an essential condition in the evaluation of a district or an urban area. This paper proposes, applied on a certain situation -an ensemble of existing social collective housing -- and in a realistic scenario, a set of architectural and urban rehabilitation interventions, focused on the imperative direction of a sustainable urban development,on the revalorization of urban territories and increase of residential satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development is a conceptual basis in almost all areas of the social and economic life, encompassing during the past decade an increasing number of aspects, the construction sector being among these. In the construction fields, the concept of sustainable development has been developed out of the definition provided by the Ch.Kilbert International Conference on Sustainable Constructions, held in Tampa Florida in 1994: "the creation and responsible management of an effectively-built environment based on the efficient use of resources and environmental principles." Nowadays, sustainable development in constructions can be defined as "developing buildings of ultimate quality with the lowest possible impact on the environment" (Ligny, 2009). At the EU level, it is estimated that the construction sector utilizes about 40% of the overall energy produced and generates around 40 % of total waste, buildings being considered responsible for more than 40 % of emissions of greenhouse gases. The notable Sick Building Syndrome has highlighted a number of factors that affect the health of habitants, related to: germes and allergens factors, improper temperature and humidity, molds, dust, improper lighting, ventilation and air currents, noise, the presence of building materials that contain harmful substances or generate toxic emissions, the operation of some equipment. Together with other factors, these may be found in the case of social housing buildings with high occupancy rates and relatively low living standards. This paper analyzes the situation of such buildings thermally rehabilitated with the support of European funds, highlighting measures to improve their current setting. Comparing the results obtained in case of a building prior to its thermal rehabilitation with the results after its rehabilitation, we identify the probability of risk factors specific to human habitat. An important conclusion of the paper is that the thermal insulation and energy efficiency of a building cannot be limited to interventions in the building's surface and facilities, the natural room ventilation becoming an essential factor. This paper presents a study with the aim of providing the possiblity of creating this in an apartment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]