Gulf Construction Online - All-new SAIE sets stage for rebuilding Italy

Events

All-new SAIE sets stage for rebuilding Italy

01 August 2012

SAIE, a leading international building exhibition, will take on a brand new slogan for its 2012 edition – rebuilding Italy.
The all-new SAIE, now in its 48th edition, marks the transition of Italy’s oldest exhibition towards a future based on sustainability, green building and urban renewal. It will be held at the BolognaFiere Exhibition Centre in Bologna from October 18 to 21.

Under its new concept, SAIE 2012 will devote greater attention to the needs of both architects and companies with regard to reconstruction by organising seminars, workshops, and events that explain the best way to use new technologies and meet the challenges of the environment and economic impact in this critical period for the building industry, said the team behind the new concept.

The team comprises Duccio Campagnoli, president of BolognaFiere, Roberto Di Vincenzo, coordinator of the Salone della Ricostruzione dell’Aquila, Norbert Lantschner, an international expert on sustainability in buildings and founder of Casaclima, Oscar Buonamano, coordinator of the Made in Italy nelle costruzioni project, and Luana Patricelli, SAIE’s new project manager.

SAIE, which brings leading innovations of the construction industry to the forefront, will this year focus on reconstruction of buildings and homes, and environment and energy sustainability – issues key to the recovery of Italy’s building industry – during the event and in the weeks prior to it through conferences and workshops led by international experts.

The 2012 edition will put the spotlight on energy efficiency, innovation, technologies for engineering and the environment, and social housing. Special focus will be given to reconstruction of Italy’s architectural and environmental heritage.

The new SAIE will have three new macro areas, namely, the innovative Green Habitat area, devoted to energy efficiency, sustainability, and urban design, with a space for sports and urban renewal; the traditional area devoted to ‘Cantiere & Production’; and services for designing and building, dedicated entirely to measurement tools, software, and technologies to help architects and companies in all aspects of building.

A key focus area, technologies for ‘engineering, environment and territory’, has been developed by SAIE-BolognaFiere, IAT Ingegneria per l’Ambiente e il Territorio, and Alta Scuola (School of Specialisation and Study Centre for the Maintenance and Conservation of Historical Centres in Unstable Territories), with the sponsorship of Associazione Geotecnica Italiana. It will feature a series of conferences, seminars and workshops on protecting and reconstructing the urban space, with a special emphasis on civil and geotechnical engineering, geology, hydrology, and hydraulics.

The conferences will present case studies, and products and technologies used in large civil engineering projects in Italy, where foreign delegates have been invited to participate.

Other highlights of SAIE 2012 are:

• ‘Made in Italy nelle costruzioni’ in co-operation with the Salone della Ricostruzione dell’Aquila, a strategic partnership formed three years after the Abruzzo earthquake to rebuild an area that serves as a model for a new building concept. A SAIE exhibit on the history of Italian architecture will also be held.

• ‘MED in Italy’, which makes its debut at an Italian fair. It comprises a fully-functioning prototype of a home based on energy self-sufficiency with a very low environmental impact, which has been designed by the Faculty of Architecture and Economics of the University of Rome Tre, Industrial Design of La Sapienza, Free University of Bolzano and Fraunhofer.

• The fourth international SAIE selection competition, exclusively for students and architects under 40, which will focus on redevelopment. The competition entitled ‘Redeveloping, regenerating and improving buildings – sustainable innovative solutions’ has been organised under three categories: urban regeneration and renewal, building renovation and renewal and improvement of historical buildings.

• An event on energy efficiency, the 30th National Conference organised by AiCarr (Associazione italiana condizionamento dell’aria, riscaldamento e refrigerazione), entitled ‘Beyond Energy Certification: designing and managing the building or plant system to optimise comfort and energy consumption’.