Resourceedings

Conscious Design: Integrating Nature and Emotion for the Preservation of the Built Environment

Fabio Macobatti, Raffaella Travagliaa — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Creative sustainability encompasses not only the preservation of untouched nature but also the enhancement of the built environment, which plays a fundamental role in human well-being. This study introduces Conscious Emotional Design as an approach that integrates ecological principles, sensory perception, and user participation into the design process. The research applies the EMOHTIONS method, an innovative, human-centered framework that combines an experiential workshop—involving individual awareness activities, collective co-design, and multisensory material selection—with nature-inspired strategies such as biophilia and biomimicry. This mixed qualitative approach allows for the identification of users’ conscious and unconscious needs, which are then translated into tailored design solutions. The method was tested across healthcare, workplace, residential, and educational contexts. Key findings indicate that spaces designed with the EMOHTIONS method significantly enhance psychological comfort, sense of belonging, and user satisfaction, while also contributing to stress reduction and improved functionality. Results further demonstrate the method’s adaptability to diverse environments, with positive impacts observed not only for primary users but also for support communities (e.g., healthcare staff, educators, families). These outcomes confirm the potential of Conscious Emotional Design as a scalable, sustainable, and human-centered design strategy, capable of promoting both individual well-being and ecological responsibility.

A Database-Driven Study on Durability and Sustainability of 3D Concrete Printing Mixtures

Ece Öztürk, Yuri Borgianni, Ceren Ince — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

3D concrete printing (3DCP) is gaining attention for its potential in structural and infrastructural applications. While a substantial body of research focuses on developing mixtures for extrusion-based 3DCP, most studies emphasize mechanical performance, while durability and sustainability remain less explored despite their importance for long-term structural reliability and environmental impact. This study addresses this gap through a literature-based comparative database, which compiles mix designs, material replacement types and proportions, and corresponding mechanical and durability parameters. Lower-bound, upper-bound, and favourable performance ranges are identified to allow cross-comparison of mixtures. Results are categorized according to the type of material replacement, namely binder, aggregates, fibres, or additives, and durability-related indicators are evaluated together with sustainability outcomes derived from life cycle assessment. The findings show that moderate binder replacement (15–30%) provides the most balanced performance, maintaining strength and durability while reducing climate change impacts by up to 24%. Aggregate replacement enhances mechanical properties and helps save resources, although its environmental benefits are more limited. Fibre inclusion improves compressive strength and reduces porosity and water absorption, but increases embodied impacts up to 19%, while additives improve fresh-state behaviour only at very low dosages, beyond which porosity, strength losses, and emissions rise sharply. Overall, by jointly considering mechanical performance, durability, and sustainability impacts, this study provides an integrated perspective to support informed mixture optimisation for more durable and environmentally responsible 3DCP applications.

Optimization of Campus Distributed Energy System Based on Multi-Criteria Decision-Making: A Case Study of Kitakyushu Science and Research Park

Yi Yu, Weijun Gao — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Universities are key actors in the global pathway to carbon neutrality due to their diverse energy demands and innovation capacity. Based on the author’s previous study using twenty years of operational data (2002–2021), the distributed energy system (DES) at Kitakyushu Science and Research Park (KSRP), Japan, was found to exhibit a significant increase in carbon emission intensity from 0.12 to 0.25 tCO₂/GJ (+108%), primarily driven by equipment degradation and declining renewable penetration. Building on this diagnosis, this study aims to identify optimal improvement pathways by applying a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework combining Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Four criteria—emission reduction, economic efficiency, technological maturity, and policy compatibility— are used to evaluate multiple technologies and their combinations. The results show that photovoltaic (PV) systems rank highest among single technologies, while PV +storage achieves the best performance among two-technology systems, and a three-technology integration of PV + Storage + Smart Microgrid demonstrates the highest overall effectiveness, highlighting the importance of system-level coordination. Based on these findings, a phased roadmap is proposed, including short-term deployment of PV + Storage, medium-term integration of GSHP and microgrids, and long-term adoption of bioenergy and hydrogen. This study provides a transparent and reproducible AHP–TOPSIS framework with synergy evaluation and offers practical guidance for campus decarbonization.