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Designs
Special Issues
Sustainable Construction: Innovations in Design, Engineering, and the Circular Economy
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Sustainable Construction: Innovations in Design, Engineering, and the Circular Economy

A special issue of Designs (ISSN 2411-9660). This special issue belongs to the section "Civil Engineering Design".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 746

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Aziz Ahmed

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil, Mining, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
Interests: structural optimization; additive manufacturing; cold-formed steel structures; structural dynamics; ice-structure interaction; fracture mechanics; structural steel connections; high-rise reinforced concrete structures; earthquake engineering; FRP based structural retrofit

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue delves into the core principles of sustainable design and construction engineering, aiming to further our understanding and development of buildings and structures that are not only functional but also environmentally responsible. We seek contributions that emphasize innovative design approaches, construction methodologies, and engineering strategies that advance the sustainability of the built environment. The focus extends to the integration of the principles of the circular economy in the practice of construction, particularly through sustainable methods, efficient allocation of resources, and the responsible management of construction projects. Moreover, we invite studies that incorporate life cycle assessments and demonstrate the practical implementation and impact of sustainable engineering practices. By presenting successful case studies, best practices, and forward-thinking strategies, this issue aims to inspire the engineering community, providing valuable insight into sustainable construction methods. Our goal is to showcase the latest advancements in sustainable design and construction engineering, thereby providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities in the field, and ultimately to accelerate global progress towards a more sustainable future.

Dr. Aziz Ahmed
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Designs is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable engineering
  • sustainable design
  • circular economy
  • construction engineering
  • sustainable built environment

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 9136 KiB  
Article
Ferrer House at Rocafort, an Early Case of Brise-Soleil’s Design for the Mediterranean Region in Valencia
by Antonio Gomez-Gil and Joseph Cabeza-Lainez
Designs 2024, 8(5), 96; https://doi.org/10.3390/designs8050096 - 27 Sep 2024
Viewed by 542
Abstract
In 1944, the architect Antonio Gómez Davó designed and built a new house for Mr. Ferrer at Rocafort in the suburbs of Valencia (Spain). In this same year, Europe, America, Russia and even Japan were still at war and Spain was recovering from [...] Read more.
In 1944, the architect Antonio Gómez Davó designed and built a new house for Mr. Ferrer at Rocafort in the suburbs of Valencia (Spain). In this same year, Europe, America, Russia and even Japan were still at war and Spain was recovering from its own intestine conflict. Therefore, architectural innovations and influences were scarce, as was the circulation of specialized journals on the matter. Still, many creations were occurring, like ceramic vaults and the brise-soleil; further, the architect Le Corbusier had stated his profound nostalgia for the Mediterranean, a sea that he had come to appreciate in his travels to the “East”. In the case of Gómez Davó, having been born and raised in a prominent family of Valencia, he could not remain indifferent to the design features that appeared in the vernacular architecture of the area, especially the type of inclined louvers of Arabic descent, that covered bow-windows and balconies and which have come to be known in Spain as the Majorcan louvers; these are currently even employed by prominent architects like Rafael Moneo at the extension of the Painter Miro Foundation. However, with so many difficult circumstances surrounding him, Gómez Davó could not get to the point of producing a ground-breaking design based on solar assumptions for the whole façade of the house he was building; instead, when providing an entrance porch apt for living life in the pure Mediterranean tradition, he ventured to construct a surprising perforated wall oriented to the south in order to control radiation in the winter and provide shade in the summer while affording excellent light and superb conditions of ventilation. By means of self-devised simulation tools, we have analyzed the conditions of the house and especially of his innovative brise-soleil, which are at times reminiscent of Alvar Aalto’s solutions for day-lit roofs, and which he intuitively adapted to the latitude of Valencia with the help of incipient notions of solar geometry. By outlining such unknown and bold precedent and assessing the house’s proper climatic performance, we contribute to revitalizing the early and daring pioneers of solar architecture in peripheral Spain and Europe during the birth of critic regionalism, a fact often disregarded in the conventional history of Modern Architecture. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Construction: Innovations in Design, Engineering, and the Circular Economy)
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