NANOARCHITECTURE: A NEW CREATIVITY IN CONSTRUCTION

Object of this work is the construction industry that, until the industrial revolution, has always been a major human activity and nowadays still represents a massive sector of production. Nevertheless, it often deals with coarse components and systems as, in the last century, investments in research remained lower than in other industrial sectors as army, medicine, etc.. Only recently, with the development of technology and the advances in materials science and engineering, a new generation of products, that are both of higher performance and more economically viable, is to be realizing as a competitive route to achieve a real sustainable growth and innovation. Nowadays, the market show hundreds of novel (nano)products that could be successfully applied to the construction industry. Many other (nano) technologies enable new developments: materials and products are fast emerging or already exist in bulky and expensive forms in other different industrial sectors, but a great deal of research should still be developed. NanoArchitecture is a new concept that is spreading out in architectural and engineering schools along with a new perception of architectural/structural design. Such a term conveys in it the fundamentals of architectural design and constructive requirements with the customer wish and expectation in respect of the real constructive possibilities and the new international regulations. In this work we will analyse some concepts spread out from 1960s as growing architecture, molecular architecture or smart/sculptural buildings to outline the slow and long process that lead to the interconnection between traditional constructive technologies and design criteria with new enhanced and novel materials. Some exempla of futuristic buildings will be provided along with many famous academic studies and exercises proposed to train students, the new generation of technicians and scientists, in an open-minded way of thinking leading to an innovative approach in construction. Furthermore, we will outline the most popular lines of research analysing the possible applications of nanotechnology, nanostructured materials and multifunctional/smart materials in construction. The acquisition of the knowledge on nanotechnology, nanostructured materials and multifunctional/smart materials in construction will allow to formulate a judgment on the real applicability and convenience on high technologies’ usage in comparison to the traditional systems, consolidated by now in the practice.