Design and performance of sustainable and translucent building envelopes made of ETFE cushions

The paper reports the first results of a research carried out at the Department of Design and Building Construction of the University of Palermo aimed to investigate the problems related to the performance improvement of the building envelope components able to gain the sunlight. In particular we have investigated the development of sustainable building envelopes made of ETFE (Ethylene TetraFluoroEthylene) cushions. The paper shows the problems related to physics, techniques and construction derived from the use of ETFE by analysing the first use of this innovative material for the construction of more recent sustainable building envelopes all over the world. Because of the few studies available in literature on the use of this material this paper will try to give more information about it. The information reported have been collected by using architectural and technical magazines, by studying in deep different patents, by selecting technical information through the web sites of the manufacturing industries that produce and/or install ETFE sheets or cushions. The research is still in progress.