Different types of thermal activation of building structuresare increasingly utilized in buildings including BIPV, multifunctional PV facades with controllable daylight/solar gain features and integrating thermal and electrical output.

The relation between skins as metabolisers and the innercontent of different bodies will be discussed.Examples from the world of plants will illustrate how plants respond to their fixed environment and their fixed supply of water and nutrients.Examples from the world of animals will illustrate that even though animals are mobile they respond in general classification terms to their natural habitat.The tremendous versatility of the skin of the human beingwill be presented.The response of different skins to seasonal adaptation and the element of time will be discussed.The above will be correl

New solar energy systems with efficient energy output and advanced aesthetics have been developed at the University of Patras last 20 years. Among them some collector types are effective in aesthetics and energy output, as the solar collectors with colored absorbers and the stationary CPC type collectors. The building integration of air cooled photovoltaics aiming to contribute to building ventilation and of hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) systems, to provide heat and electricity, are solar devices of particular practical value.

This paper will describe how the urban projects or the new master plans must consider the environmental impactof the proposed intervention and minimise them through a sustainable planning. The Nicosias bi-communalmaster plan project has as development objective the improvement of the existing habitat and the human settlement conditions with a preservation and rehabilitationpolicy in particular way for the walled city (historicalcentre) that is almost abandoned since the Turkishinvasion of 1974.

Real-time control of comfort in indoor spaces needs models of temperature distribution and air-velocity velocityfield. Complete models, based on CFD, give this information but are improper for real-time calculations. Therefore, a reduced model is needed. This study proposesto reduce the dimension of a CFD model by first considering the velocity field fixed and solving only the energy balance equation, then putting this equation in the form of state-space and finally by reducing its orderby Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD).

The requirements for good indoor air quality and energyefficiency have often been considered to conflict with each other, however, buildings with low energy consumption in Europe seem to have also a lower rate of building related health symptoms. This indicates the importance of proper design, installation and qualified, well trained operational personnel, who understands both the requirements for good indoor air quality and energy efficiency.

This presentation projects the potential of mass interwovenwith other aspects of Bioclimatic Design, with the objective of energy conservation and utilization of renewable energy resources for indoor comfort.The variable of mass and its effect on other variables and parameters in building simulations are outlined and discussed.

Five most commonly used single span shapes of greenhousesviz. even-span, uneven-span, vinery, modified arch and quonset type have been selected for comparison.The length, width and height (at the center) is kept same for all the shapes. Total solar radiation input (beam, diffused and ground reflected) to each shape (through each wall, inclined surfaces and roofs) is theoreticallycomputed for east-west and north-south orientationsand compared for each month of the year at 31 N latitude.

The energy rehabilitation of listed buildings is of great importance as they are many limitations of the possibletechnical interventions. The paper presents the outcomesof a study concerning the possible interventions in an existing building focusing in the minimization of the energy consumption and the achievement of the desirablethermal and visual comfort.The building is located in the centre of the city of Athens,Greece with total heated area of approximately 896m2. The building has areas with different use, such as offices, seminar room, and restaurant.

The idea of using one-dimensional fillers as a reinforcingagent is nothing new: straw has been used to reinforcemud bricks since about 4000 BC. Mud brick is sustainable and traditional material which is used in large scales of building houses in hot-arid climate, so it is identity of these areas and it is not able to be ignored.