Architectural Design for NZEB Office Buildings

Nearly zero-energy buildings is one of the new challenge required by the European Directive 2010/31/EU and it is a hard goal to reach if we consider the date of 31st December 2020 (31st December 2018 for the public ones). In order to support the design process and face with the European Directive, it appears important focusing on administration buildings because many constructions, owned and occupied by public authorities, enclose offices; these blocks are complex for typological, morphological and constructive aspects and their energy-needs are relevant especially related to electricity consumption. For these reasons, it is essential studying, starting from the criteria partly consolidated for residential buildings, all the passive architectural strategies used to save energy for the optimization of daylighting and natural ventilation. This paper shows some results of a research in progress which will analyze many passive design strategies, the integration between building and plant systems, different façade solutions and the use of innovative materials for office buildings located in Italy. Specifically, the paper presents the analysis of the variation of the building types relating to the design of sustainable new offices with a wide plan taking, as example, some existing constructions in Europe. The approach is multidisciplinary and it gives requirements for the orientation, the spatial layout in relation to the envelope’s composition and technology.