RENOLIT FOCUSES ON SUSTAINABILITY WITH THE "VELUXLAB" PROJECT, THE FIRST ZERO ENERGY LABORATORY BUILDING ON A UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
Building for a more sustainable future. This is the objective of RENOLIT which contributed to creating the new experimental roofing of the VELUXlab, Milan Polytechnic's Active House-Cognitive Building laboratory. The company provided its high energy efficiency solutions: RENOLIT ALKORPLAN SST, a membrane equipped with Solar Shield Technology, along with two profiles RENOLIT ALKORSOLAR and RENOLIT ALKORDESIGN.
Sant Celoni, Barcelona, 23 December 2019 - A challenge involving research, experimentation and construction. This was how the collaboration of RENOLIT came about in creating the new roofing for the VELUXlab, the first n-ZEB (Nearly Zero Energy Building) on an Italian university campus.
The project began in 2011 when VELUX Italia decided to convert the Akita demo-house into an experimental laboratory for Milan Polytechnic.
It is a high energy efficiency prototype and a real case study to explore the topic of sustainable development for buildings of the future.
The awards obtained from the CENED Energy Protocol, for an A + class ranking along with an Active House Label, testify to the high performance achieved. Subjected to continuous experimentation, the latest intervention dates back to summer 2019, with the construction of a new experimental roof made up of three different finishes: a green roof, an area equipped with photovoltaic panels and lastly, a visible aesthetic part that is more creative and original.
The most important element of the roof is the RENOLIT ALKORPLAN SST membrane, equipped with Solar Shield Technology. The reflective coating, thanks to its special "cool pigments", protects the external surface from extreme temperature cycles, thus reducing the aging process. Therefore, the design proposal saw the installation of Isopan PVSteel sandwich panels, to which the membrane was applied. On the part of the roof characterised by photovoltaic panels, square-section RENOLIT ALKORSOLAR profiles, reinforced with internal metal profiles, were used. Hot air application allowed for the fusion and anchoring of the profile to the waterproof covering, for 100% safe wind and water proof sealing. Lastly, pre-shaped RENOLIT ALKORDESIGN profiles, used for collecting rainwater, were welded together for the more aesthetic part of the roof, offering a perfect, eye-catching solution.
These are the solutions provided by RENOLIT, a multinational company that specialises in manufacturing high quality plastic materials and is a leader in the roof and covering waterproofing sector. The company has shown that it can use its membranes to complete sustainable, high-efficiency projects that are in line with current eco-compatible building requirements.
Thanks to the recent development of these three types of finishes, all valid and integrable with each other, VELUXlab is, without doubt, a building capable of fully interpreting the "green new deal" of Active House visions, beyond 2020
A project which RENOLIT was keen to take part in for the prestige of collaborating with universities and leading companies, and experimenting sustainable solutions together, to encourage the evolution of the designers of tomorrow.