Valeria Piccioni

Last Name

Piccioni

First Name

Valeria

ORCID

0000-0003-0119-8189

Organisational unit

03902 - Schlüter, Arno / Schlüter, Arno

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Publications 1 - 10 of 20

3D printing facades: Design, fabrication, and assessment methods
Leschok, Matthias; Cheibas, Ina; Piccioni, Valeria; et al. (2023)
Automation in Construction
This paper presents a state of the art review for 3D printed facades. In the review, three main topics are identified: (i) computational design strategies for 3D printed facades, (ii) fabrication processes and materials, and (iii) performance assessment. The design section displays computational tools and methods for design to production of 3D printed facades. The chapter fabrication processes, materials, and applications illustrates the technology potential for facade application sorted by material groups. The performance assessment section presents current approaches to evaluating and validating the performance of 3DP facades. Finally, knowledge gaps, challenges, and future trends are discussed to offer insights into leading-edge solutions for facade design and fabrication.
Geometry-based graphical methods for solar control in architecture: A digital framework
Bertagna, Federico; Piccioni, Valeria; D'Acunto, Pierluigi (2023)
Frontiers of Architectural Research
The form of a building is among the most critical design aspects concerning building energy consumption. Form-based passive design strategies, like solar control, can significantly reduce heating and cooling demands if implemented early in the design process. In this sense, there is an evident need for tools that can adequately support designers in their decisions. This paper aims to illustrate how geometry-based graphical methods (GGM) can provide effective support in the conceptual design stage. The paper introduces a novel digital framework for designing and analysing shading devices that leverages geometrical models and graphical methods. The digital implementation of GGM allows extending their applicability to three-dimensional and non-planar geometries. A comprehensive review of existing methods and tools for the design of shading devices lays the ground for the proposed digital framework, which is then demonstrated through two case studies. The results show that the diagrammatic nature of GGM facilitates a better and more direct understanding of the relationship between form and performance.
Light Distribution in 3D-Printed Thermoplastics
Cheibas, Ina; Piccioni, Valeria; Lloret-Fritschi, Ena; et al. (2023)
3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing
Daylight distribution is an essential performance parameter for building facades that aim to maximize user comfort while maintaining energy efficiency. This study investigates the feasibility of using 3D-printed thermoplastic to improve daylight distribution and transmission. To identify how geometry influences light distribution and transmission, 12 samples with various patterns were robotically fabricated. In a physical simulation of spring, summer, and winter, a robotic arm was used to direct light onto the samples in both the vertical and horizontal print pattern directions. In addition, three samples of conventional facade materials, including a polycarbonate panel, a polycarbonate sheet, and a single sheet of glass, were compared with the 3D-printed samples. All samples were examined and compared using high dynamic range imaging to qualitatively characterize luminance. The data analysis demonstrated that 3D-printed geometry can successfully generate customizable diffusive light distribution based on the needs of the user. Furthermore, the results showed that the vertical pattern direction had higher light transmission values than the horizontal pattern direction.
Prefabricated Connections for Hollow-Core 3D Printed Facade Elements
Eftekhar Olivo, Nik; Milano, Francesco; Piccioni, Valeria; et al. (2025)
CAADRIA ~ Architectural Informatics: Proceedings of the 30th International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA 2025), Volume 2
Prefabricated highly insulating glass facades are difficult to disassemble or recycle due to the varying lifespans of their components and offer limited customization possibilities. In contrast, 3D-printed facades (3DPF) allow for bespoke designs and local climate adaptation. Combining sustainable materials like timber and dry construction methods with large-scale 3DP of recycled polymers, such as rPETG, is a promising alternative to traditional prefabricated facades in terms of circularity and façade customization. For large-scale 3DP, the recent development of Hollow-Core 3DP (HC3DP), offers unique possibilities for efficiently fabricating large-scale 3DP building components. However, the integration of HC3DP panels in facade applications remains unexplored. This paper investigates postprocessing methods, detailing, and construction solutions for applying pre-fabricated single-pane HC3DP components in non-load-bearing facades. To achieve this, small-scale experiments were conducted to evaluate construction techniques, including heat-flattening, taping, and polymer welding. Medium-scale tests focused on refining the HC3DP process. Construction detailing is achieved by combining prefabricated standard mullions with dry connections and post-processed HC3DP panels. The study provides a first approach for fabricating, postprocessing, and implementing HC3DP panels as reversible customizable facade components.
A review on artificial intelligence applications for facades
Duran, Ayça; Waibel, Christoph; Piccioni, Valeria; et al. (2025)
Building and Environment
This review applies a transformer-based topic model to reveal trends and relationships in Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven facade research, with a focus on architectural, environmental, and structural aspects. AI methods reviewed include Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), and Computer Vision (CV). Overall, a significantly growing interest in applying AI methods can be observed across all research areas. However, noticeable differences exist between the three topics. While CV and DL techniques are applied to image data in research on the architectural design of facades, research on environmental aspects of facades often uses numerical data with relatively small datasets and classical ML models. Research on facade structure also tends to use image data but also incorporates numerical performance prediction. A major limitation remains a lack of generalizability, which could be addressed by more comprehensive datasets and novel DL techniques. These include concepts such as Physics-Informed Neural Networks, where domain knowledge is integrated into hybrid data-driven models, and multi-modal diffusion models, which offer generative modeling capabilities to support inverse and forward design tasks. The trends and directions outlined in this review suggest that AI will continue to advance facade research and, in line with other domains, has the potential to achieve a level of maturity suitable for adoption beyond academia and into practice.
Tuning the Solar Performance of Building Facades through Polymer 3D Printing
Piccioni, Valeria; Leschok, Matthias; Grobe, Lars Oliver; et al. (2022)
Façades are the primary interface controlling the flow of solar energy in buildings and affecting their energy balance and environmental impact. Recently, large-scale 3D printing(3DP) of translucent polymers has been explored as a technique for fabricating façade components with bespoke properties. Transmissivity is essential for facades, as the response to solar radiation is crucial to obtaining comfort and significantly affects electricity and cooling demands. However, it is still unclear how 3DP parameters affect the optical properties of translucent polymers. This study establishes an experimental procedure to relate the optical properties of PETG components to design and 3DP parameters. We observe that printing parameters significantly affect layer deposition, which governs internal light scattering in the layers and overall light transmission. Moreover, the layer resolution determines angle-dependent properties. We show that printing parameters can be tuned to obtain tailored properties, from high normal transparency (~90%) to translucency (~60%) and with a range of haze levels (~55- 97%). These findings present an opportunity for large-scale 3DP of bespoke façades, which can selectively admit or block solar radiation and provide uniform daylighting of a space. In the context of the building sector decarbonisation, such components hold great potential for reducing emissions while ensuring occupant comfort.
Thermal Enhancement of Hollow-Core 3dp Through Nozzle Design Customization
Eftekhar Olivo, Nik; Piccioni, Valeria; Milano, Francesco; et al. (2024)
SSRN
On the architectural scale, material extrusion (ME) or Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) have been fabrication methods for polymer-based components explored as an alternative to injection molding, over the past 20 years. These Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques face long printing hours, slow material cooling rates, and high material usage when scaling toward building-size components. Hollow-core 3D printing (HC3DP) is an novel fabrication method that addresses these limitations by extruding tubular beads, thereby saving time and materials. A key advantage of HC3DP is its insulating properties due to the air chambers within the prints. This technique has significant potential for large-scale facade fabrication while providing essential thermal insulation. However, initial research indicates that deploying HC3DP at an architectural scale, while meeting building insulation standards, requires using a double pane with an internal infill structure. This reduces its ability to optimize time and material efficiency. The full potential of this technology rather relies on its application for the fabrication of single-pane mono-material façade elements. Therefore, as a first step, this research aims to explore the different insulating properties of various HC wall configurations from more complex to infill-less wall typologies. As a second step, thermally optimized bespoke die-end extrusion nozzles are designed for HC3DP of façade panels to achieve higher material, time, and thermal efficiency. Through bespoke nozzle customization, different levels of thermal insulation improvement could be achieved, reaching an U-Value of 0.998 W/m2K on a HC3DP single-pane panel, improving by two the insulating capacity of basic single pane circular-sectioned HC, and complying with the nearly zero-energy building (NZEB) standards. All of this while reducing printing time, material usage and cost up to half compared to an insulating-equivalent HC3DP wall typology.
From layer to building: Multiscale modeling of thermo-optical properties in 3D-printed facades
Piccioni, Valeria; Grobe, Lars Oliver; Hischier, Illias; et al. (2024)
Energy and Buildings
The challenge of building sector decarbonization has driven an integral rethinking of the way we design and build facades. Recently, large scale 3D-printing has emerged as an alternative manufacturing technique for novel facade components aiming at high operational efficiency and low environmental impact. Focusing on translucent polymer 3DPFs, this study tackles the challenges of modeling thermal and optical effects in geometrically complex components where interactions across multiple domains and scales occur. In particular, we introduce a novel method for modeling the irregular thermo-optical properties of 3DPFs, capable of capturing relevant effects often out of the scope of traditional modeling approaches. Our model accounts for geometry-dependent physical effects ranging from millimeter-scale fabrication details that impact optical behavior to centimeter-scale geometric features influencing heat and radiation transfer, extending up to the meter-scale implications for the building application. By employing computational techniques such as ray-tracing, computational fluid dynamics, and finite element analysis, we establish a model that offers detailed thermal and optical analysis to support performance-driven design iterations. Finally, demonstrating this approach in an office building context, we show that 3DPFs can match the performance of double glazing with dynamic shading, providing effective solar and thermal management over the year. This is achieved in a single, mono-material component with no active control, suggesting 3DPFs are a promising direction for low-environmental impact facade design.
Revisiting Breuer through Additive Manufacturing
Fleckenstein, Julia; Bertagna, Federico; Piccioni, Valeria; et al. (2023)
Digital Design Reconsidered, Volume 1
With the IBM Research Center in La Gaude, France (1960-1962), the architect Marcel Breuer pioneered a novel industrial approach towards modular construction using precast facade elements for on-site assembly, combining load-bearing and solar control functions in their configuration. This industrial production method involved a high level of standardization, which was a practical response to the need for rapid and cost-effective construction systems. However, this standardization limited the ability to create custom elements to meet specific local requirements, such as variations in solar exposure. To overcome this limitation, new methods of Additive Manufacturing in Construction (AMC) could enhance design flexibility, allowing for bespoke designs while still maintaining industrialisable production processes. This paper draws inspiration from Breuer's building design with the aim to expand the concept of element prefabrication by incorporating performance-based and locally customized design approaches supported by AMC technology. As such, the authors present the method and results of an experimental case study for multi-scale-differentiation of building envelope elements, which design was informed by solar radiation simulations and AMC-related boundary conditions. The research describes an algorithmic based design-to-production workflow combining computational design and simulation methods using geometry-based graphical methods for solar control and solar radiation simulations for form-based changes, leveraging the potential of Selective Cement Activation (SCA) as an AMC technology. The workflow was tested and evaluated on behalf of the design and additive manufacturing of a building envelope element at full building scale.
Tuning the Solar Performance of Building Facades through Polymer 3D Printing: Toward Bespoke Thermo‐Optical Properties
Piccioni, Valeria; Leschok, Matthias; Grobe, Lars Oliver; et al. (2023)
Advanced Materials Technologies
Façades are the primary interface controlling the flow of solar energy in buildings and affecting their energy balance and environmental impact. Recently, large-scale 3D printing (3DP) of translucent polymers has been explored as a technique for fabricating façade components with bespoke properties and functionalities. Transmissivity is essential for building facades, as the response to solar radiation is crucial to obtaining comfort and greatly affects electricity and cooling demands. However, it is still unclear how 3DP parameters affect the optical properties of translucent polymers. This study establishes an experimental procedure to relate the optical properties of PETG components to design and 3DP parameters. It is observed that printing parameters control layer deposition, which governs internal light scattering in the layers and overall light transmission. Moreover, the layer resolution determines angle-dependent properties. It is shown that printing parameters can be tuned to obtain tailored optical properties, from high normal transparency (≈90%) to translucency (≈60%), and with a range of haze levels (≈55–97%). These findings present an opportunity for large-scale 3DP of bespoke façades, which can selectively admit or block solar radiation and provide uniform daylighting of a space. In the context of the building sector decarbonization, such components hold great potential for reducing emissions while ensuring occupant comfort.

Publications 1 - 10 of 20

Valeria Piccioni

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