ISSC 2014 – Tianjin, China: Science Creativity Life

Smart Cities : a Case Study of Our New School Building.

How can Science use Creativity to improve the quality of Life? The idea of the study came from Smart City, a new concept of city involving the utilization of networked infrastructure to improve efficiency. The students interest focused on sustainable housing. Recently, Liceo Marco Foscarini, was allowed to construct a new school building embodying higher technology: it is really a Smart building!

The group considered and analyzed the solutions of the design team APML-architetti permitting low structural weight, high luminosity, and great thermal insulation of the building. Additionally, a study of its heating system proved it to be effective in saving energy with its surprisingly unusual mechanism: a countercurrent heat exchange system which mirrors what is used by animals.

New Technology in Paints : Projecting Ourselves and the Environment.

Wall paints should be washable, which means having a good wet scrub resistance, and should have a low dirt retention. Furthermore, they should be harmless for people, especially indoors, and eco-friendly: sustainable products make sustainable buildings. Not far from Venice, the Colorificio San Marco is working in this direction. The group visited the company and learnt about the latest paint technologies: highly washable paint with very low emissions of volatile compounds. Each product has a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) comprising safety and disposal information and the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), essential in order to evaluate the environmental impact in regards to factors such as Carbon Footprint, energy content and water consumption. An experiment was conducted in the school lab in order to compare three different paints regarding washability and dirt retention. Finally, the researched focused on a new kind of outdoor paints containing TiO₂ which destroys dirty particles and pollutants with photocatalytic action.