Active solar heritage architecture: lessons learned from international experiences

The study elaborates a critical and comparative analysis of fifty successful case studies on the integration of active solar energy technologies in protected natural and heritage sensitive contexts, discussing their aesthetical, technical, and energy integration and identifying design recommendations and future directions for architectural practices. The case studies are assessed from a quantitative and qualitative point of view, verify the presence of common trends, patterns, and key success factors as well as to identify emerging technologies, prototypes, and solutions. Their sensitivities, criticalities, and potentials are discussed and compared to identify emerging technologies, prototypes, and solutions. At the end, five design projects are presented and illustrated in detail, considering their specificities, positive and negative aspects, and lessons learned from a direct interaction with the designers.