As essential elements of buildings, roofs traditionally correspond to about 3-8% of total project cost. Despite this considerable share, in the literature there have been only a few researches that investigate roof types preferred by owners/designers and make a cost analysis to reveal cost differences between alternatives. Toward this aim, in this study, twelve types of roofs installed in const...

Selected applications of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) sandwich structural elements in building and bridge construction are discussed. It is shown how in building construction this technology enables the integration of functions such as load-bearing capacity, thermal insulation, daylight entry and energy production, into single, large-scale and lightweight roof or façade panels. In bridge cons...

A web-based Roof Savings Calculator (RSC) has been deployed for the United States Department of Energy as an industry-consensus tool to help building owners, manufacturers, distributors, contractors and researchers easily run complex roof and attic simulations. This tool employs modern web technologies, usability design, and national average defaults as an interface to annual simulations of hou...

The aim of this trial was to test a wildflower roof in order to show how a country landscape fits in an urban environment. The bio-agronomic performance, the biodiversity dynamics during the two-years experiment, and the pollinating fauna, were analysed. Each plant group was able to efficiently colonize the surface of the roof though in different periods and with various modalities. Thermal ins...