Fraiese, Mariacarla (2025) Assessing the Envelope Vulnerability to Inform Building Risk: Methods, Tools, and Protocols. [Tesi di dottorato]

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Abstract

The building envelope plays a critical role in the overall functionality, energy efficiency, and safety of buildings. Envelope components, such as cornices, balconies, chimneys, and finishes, are directly impacted by external hazards throughout their service life and are traditionally configured as “factors at risk”. Being particularly vulnerable to these external hazards, they deteriorate faster than other building components and may suffer more or less severe damage phenomena depending on the hazard type and their relevant vulnerability. Beyond long-term performance issues, degraded envelope components can pose a significant risk to their surroundings. Indeed, when damage conditions became significant (e.g., detachments of finishings, displacement of roof tiles), components, or portions of them, may collapse into surrounding areas, determining an additional hazard for the urban system with significant cascading impacts on people’s safety. In this scenario, envelope components shift from being “factors at risk” to becoming “risk factors” themselves for the urban system, thereby configuring a risk scenario in which the hazard associated with their possible collapse generates significant cascading impacts. The research aims to develop a structured framework in which envelope components are treated not only as factors at risk but also as potential sources of risk, formalising the specific type of risk they pose to the surrounding context, as an envelope-induced, system-experienced cascading impact arising from their vulnerability. To achieve this, the thesis pursues the following three process objectives: (1) formalise and identify this specific type of risk posed by envelope components to the surrounding environment, referred to as “Building risk”; (2) develop a reproducible and rapid assessment method for assessing the vulnerability of building envelope components to multiple hazards, providing an analytical formulation for its quantitative assessment; (3) design a rapid visual survey tool and protocol to support data collection and analysis in the context of envelope vulnerability assessment. The results obtained have several practical implications across all stages of risk management and offer effective support for policymakers and public administrations, laying the foundations for risk-informed design, intervention, monitoring, and maintenance strategies for mitigation, adaptation, and resilience enhancement of both new and existing buildings.

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