Escuela de Politécnica Superior

Given the immersion of cities in a global situation of social emergency since the latest environmental and health events, current research on increasing the quality of life of citizens has become a priority in the attempt to provide the set of sustainable strategic conditions that must be met in favour of the necessary urban regeneration associated with the improvement of the habitable environment. Thus, being directly concerned by this matter, the construction of new buildings will have to follow concordant dynamics aiming at the improvement of the quality of life of their users and of the city as a whole, thus contributing to their mandatory healthy, habitable and equitable nature. It is necessary to redefine in the design of buildings certain potential criteria with a positive effect on the quality of life. These can be grouped into the following five key factors that define architectural work in relation to its habitability conditions: identity, character, image, materiality and implementation. These quality-of-life descriptors are assessed in a particular building, which serves as a real case study as follows: the new town hall of Estepona (Malaga, Spain). The aim is to provide an answer to the potential use of indicators that determine the improvement of the quality of life provided by a building in the city as a whole. The fact that it is a public building also turns it into a model of management that is consistent with the requirements of sustainable environmental progress in the general interest of a socially just city.

In this research work, energy simulation was used as a forecasting tool in architectural design. It includes the study of a multi-family residential building in five di erent climate zones of Spain, i.e., A4 (very hot climate zones), B4 (hot climate zones), C4 (moderate climate zones), D3 (cold climate zones), and E1 (very cold climate zones). The authors accomplished a sensitivity analysis in order to identify the influence of passive strategies (i.e., with regard to solar reflectance) and renewable energy (i.e., with regard to aerothermal energy) on indoor temperatures and energy demands. The increment in indoor temperatures depends on the neighboring buildings so that e ect of urban contexts as a source of protection against sunlight is also considered. The increment in the albedo (i.e., the solar reflectance) of the façade during the winter period produces little di erences in indoor operative temperatures. On the contrary, during the summer period, it produces large temperature di erences. Therefore, it is shown that colors significantly reduce temperatures from 1.24 to 3.04 C, which means considerable annual energy savings. This research demonstrates that solar reflectance can reduce the air indoor operative temperature down to 4.16 C during the month of May in the coldest climate zones. As a result of the simulations, it is noted that the coldest climate zones are influenced to a greater extent by the inclusion of their urban contexts in the simulations. However, the heating demand, without considering it, becomes lower. Therefore, ignoring the urban context produces important errors in the heating analysis (12.2% in the coldest climate zones) and also in the cooling analysis (39% in the hottest climate zones). Finally, the use of renewable energy in the configuration of a model with a high urban canyon (Hc), as well as with an east–west building orientation and a low albedo produces a di erence of around 76% in the cooling costs within the hottest climate zones and around 73% in the heating costs within the coldest climate zones. The results of this study can be applied as a guideline in early architectural design.

Utilization of the energy obtained through the recreational use of the leisure zones by means of human-powered traction using mini-bike pedals as a renewable source intended to produce accumulative energy. Energy is generated through the physical and sporty activity of pedalling. Such energy is subsequently accumulated in batteries using two alternators for its later use transforming it into environmental conditioning and lighting. A system capable of transforming physical exercise into power generation intended for lighting, artificial shade, and coolness is proposed. This system provides a solution to obtain artificial shade and coolness by means of the nebulization of water vapour in environments of hard urbanism, which allows humanizing the city through a participative citizen action. Such nebulization is obtained through the process of transforming the human renewable source of pedaling into energy for environmental conditioning and hygrothermal comfort through a bioclimatic strategy. A study is carried out in order to analyse the bioclimatic conditions of the environment in order to create urban facilities, which guarantee optimal habitability conditions by taking advantage of those factors, which provide quality of life and social development, such as environmental aesthetics, level of environmental stress, pedestrian areas, and leisure zones, among others. In the recent past years, the design of urban facilities, which encourage social relations and a healthy life, is in increasing evolution referring to the first designs installed in the parks and gardens of the cities. However, nowadays there is not system capable of integrating more significantly physical exercise and power generation intended for lighting, artificial shade, and coolness.

The sustainable education campus project for San Agustín de Guadalix is based on an innovative concept of urbanism and architecture. The campus design and landscape aim to support training and exemplify sustainability.