Francesco De Luca

Architecture and Climate is a research group of the Academy of Architecture and Urban Studies, Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture at TalTech - Tallinn University of Technology. The Architecture and Climate research group develops research and innovation at the intersection of architectural and urban design with building technology, sustainable design, climatic and environmental design, performance-driven design, and computation. The research work is finalized to develop solutions, methods and tools to help designers and planners tackling the pressing issues of resource depletion, healthiness and climate change applying sustainable, human centered and ecological design strategies through design exploration and optimization. The group conducts research using building performance simulations with focus on daylight, energy use and generation, microclimate, indoor and outdoor thermal comfort, embodied and operational building carbon emissions, and nature based solutions. The work focuses on the development of innovative workflows to integrate environmental analysis with building form and systems optimization to improve human health and buildings net-positive balance, resilience and livability of cities. The Architecture and Climate research group has tight connections with the nZEB research group of the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture at TalTech, involved in research about zero energy buildings and positive energy districts. The nZEB research group presents key competencies of the following research areas: Building physics; Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC); Indoor climate; Energy performance of buildings; Deep renovation strategies. Key research initiatives are targeted to the development of technical solutions and calculation methods for highly energy performing and zero energy buildings and neighborhoods construction and deep renovation within active cooperation with other research areas such as architecture, construction economics, building materials and energy production which are all well represented in the ongoing Zero Energy Center of Excellence in Research ZEBE.