Impact of Technical Textile Envelopes on the Perception of Indoor Comfort in Minor Sports Facilities

The main focus of this research is the Light Envelope, a specific and not widely known type of building envelope produced with technical textiles. In particular we focus on a highly widespread type of construction, textile sports facilities .To define the scope of the present paper, the field of investigation was restricted to minor sports facilities. The focus is on the study of the impact this technology has on the users’ perception of environmental indoor comfort. A direct experimentation permitted the concrete definition of the problem at the base of the research: the conditions of absolute discomfort experienced during sporting practice in these indoor spaces.–We subsequently drew an evaluation and comparison of the different products (or technical solutions) for the envelope, in order to outline the effects of each product on indoor comfort perception. This final step aimed to highlight and compare the various technical solutions currently available. This analysis is a valuable tool for end users (technician / designer) when making the appropriate choices for a correct design of the cover itself. Finally, an innovative package for the cover was proposed which, due to its characteristics, could represent a quality prototype whose utilization can be widely spread for the construction of this type of buildings.