The complex of Santa Verdiana is an historical building located in the UNESCO city center of Florence that hosts the School of Architecture of the University of Florence. The renovation of one block of the complex is one of the pilot projects of the Med-EcoSuRe – Mediterranean University as Catalyst for Eco-Sustainable Renovation research project, co-financed by the European Union in the framework of the programme ENI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin 2014-2020.

Considering the high level of context sensitivity, the renovation project is guided by some basic criteria:

• Temporaneity and Reversibility: Restore the original state when temporary use ends.
• Modularity and Prefabrication: Speed up production, installation and disassembly.
• Environ­mental sustainability: Use dry assembly systems and environmentally friendly materials, produce renewable energy, and reduce energy needs.
• Compositional harmony: Reading and reinterpreting the geometry and propor­tions of the existing façade and cloister.

The interventions in Santa Verdiana include:

1. Active solar façade 

The three-dimensional steel structure houses innovative integrat­ed semi-transparent glass-glass photovoltaic panels, manufactered by Onyx Solar, useful for both power generation and solar radiation shielding. As a result, it improves indoor environmental quality of classrooms and overall energy efficiency.

PV panels are organised vertically in upper bands and horizontally on the top of the structure. Different vertical panel rotations ensure a proper shading and energy collection at different times of the day. Since the structure is settled in the overexposed south façade, it helps in reducing the cooling demand and visual discomfort due to overlit in both the building floors.

With a total of 90 modules covering an area of 92.6 m2, the total peak power is of about 6 kWp, resulting in an annual production of 7000 kWh. The installed PV system consents to reduce the emission of pollutants in the atmosphere.

2. Opening of skylights and re-lamping

The opening of four skylights (manufactured and installed by Velux) has the objective to solve the underlit conditions in the first floor of the block (while overlit is present closed to the windows facing south), where the huge aula magna suffers overall dark visual conditions in the central part determining the continuous recourse to artificial lighting. The new openings contribute to improving the visual comfort and smoothing the internal lighting level of the room, decreasing the artificial lighting demand.

Moreover, the replacement of light fittings of the laboratory with LED lamps contributes to energy savings, considering that a LED lamp can save 65% of energy in comparison to a neon one.