After the start in Bolzano in March 2019, representatives of the RESTORE WG4 “Rethinking Technology“ started their work. For this purpose, they met on 15th and 16th April 2019 in Brussels at the Catholic University of Louvain, Faculty of Architecture, Campus Saint-Gilles. Sergio Altomonte, MC Member and participant of the WG2 and 4 took over the organisation locally. The working group came together with the WG3, which also gathered there and handed over the work to their follow-up group.
The meeting of the WG4 served the thematic positioning of their 6 sub-groups, whereby their respective group leaders presented corresponding work packages. This gave orientation to the participants and for decision making about their individual contribution in at least one sub-group. In order to focus on the topic “Regenerative Indoor Environment” within the WG4, the group leaders Roberto Lollini and Wilmer Pasut presented the structure of the WG4 again. To ensure a continuity of topics and results from previous RESTORE projects, Martin Brown, Emanuele Naboni (both online connected) and Giulia Peretti took a look at the contents and organisation of their previous group works over the past two years. To this purpose, they each gave a short presentation followed by a discussion. Carlo Battisti then informed about the Topic “Certification of Building Materials and Products” in the field of sustainability and focused on the latest trends and processes. This introductory part of the event was still held jointly by WG3 and WG4 and concluded with an exchange of views on how the following topics can increasingly integrate planning and implementation practice. Measures were discussed on how the industry can be effectively integrated into the working groups in order to learn from each other. The joint event of WG3 and 4 finally promoted the mutual exchange and the preparation for the future work in RESTORE.
Subsequently, WG4 met separately to discuss its own sub-group topics. Emanuele Naboni started this session with a focus on a) “Technology-related Parameters”. He presented Criteria Pillars developed from the WG2. The effects that Climatic, Cultural and Social Conditions have on the WG4 topic are dealt with by sub-group b), to which Diana Kopeva informed accordingly and invited to lively participation. But also which technologies can actively contribute to a regenerative indoor climate should be clarified by sub-group c) in the coming months by developing a possible Solution Set. Roberto Lollini informed and motivated hereto. The next group d) will deal with the topic “Environmental and Social Impact”. Žaneta Stasiškienė spoke and promoted the targeted use of LCA and analyses with a focus on Circular Economy. In order to support the implementation and effectiveness of adequate measures in practice, the sub-group e) under the leadership of Sergio Almonte will develop hands-on Monitoring Systems. Finally, Case Studies from different areas of previous WGs, but also on new topics and from the area of low and high technology, will carry out evaluations related to practice. Experiences and findings from this will be the result of the sub-group f), which should encourage the industry to follow these examples. Odysseas Kontovourkis and his team will be in charge of this.
According to the previous activities also the WG4 will supplement their own work with STSMs. There will be a call for applications in June at the latest. It is also planned to have a Training School (TS) in Venice in November. The RESTORE COMMS Team will inform you also about this in time. In order to maintain the continuity of the WG4 work, a further meeting is planned for June 2019, at which the sub-groups will report specifically on their activities. Networking will also be ensured.
All in all, the WG4 kick-off event in Brussels was a success, as it got the participants in the mood for the upcoming tasks together. However, the two days also made it clear that RESTORE already has a broad and well-founded basis of topics and experience, which will surely strengthen the WG4 activities. In addition, this working group is composed of a large number of different experts, which will promote interdisciplinary output and certainly ensure their success.
RESTORE would like to thank all participants and the group leaders for taking part at this event and especially Sergio Altomonte for the local organization.
And good luck in the individual group work!