The constant expansion and intensification of urbanized areas resulting in microclimate deterioration, high air pollution and dust pollution levels, as well as noise provoking a response and a rise in urban greenery, is currently observed. In this context, the subject of green walls also known as vertical gardens subscribes to the notion of sustainable design and its growing popularity manifests the unbreakable bond between man and nature. One cannot overestimate the importance of green wall technology, which provides architects with new ecological elevation material, offering an unlimited number of textures and colour effects, changing according to the time of the day and season, and sometimes unpredictable even for the designer himself.

The paper contains an introduction to the principles of landscape planning and presents the benefits of establishing a linear Ślęza River Park. It is one of five river parks that may be created in flooded areas in Wrocław, forming the core of the Green Infrastructure system. The adopted form of the landscape plan refers to similar studies from Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. In Polish conditions, the plan has an innovative character and enables the implementation of a number of technical and organizational solutions, leading to a more synergetic use of environmental resources in the belt of riverside areas. The program of the management of the park and the related tourist trail refers to the history of Western Slavs, called Sleenzane, who inhabited the basin of Ślęza in the early Middle Ages. Along the river there are many archaeological sites from this period and the route Wrocław with the massif of mount Ślęża – the holy place of ancient worship in Silesia.

Hamburg has become a world-class innovation centre indicating the direction of ecological transformations in the 21st century. Internationale Bauausstellung (International Building Exhibition) IBA Hamburg 2006–2013 is a rebuilding process unfolding over many years and being an answer to the question about the architectural future of cities; it is a place where the latest achievements of building technology and designs of the architecture of the future are presented. Internationale Gartenscha (International Garden Show) IGS Hamburg 2013 offers a new municipal park in Wilhelmsburg to its inhabitants, where they can find leisure, recreation and educational grounds. Modern residences, office buildings and shops were built on the edges of the park within the IBA. The whole creates a harmonious green space defining a new quality of living. These enterprises show how to transform a neglected urban space in a sustainable manner so that it is both attractive for people and environmentally-friendly.

Analysing European buildings, the author notices a new approach to the use of water in contemporary architecture and landscape practice. The modern experience of space modelling with three states of water (solid, liquid and vapour) extends the concept of “architecture of water” incorporated into design practice in the late twentieth century. Properly shaped, technologically advanced solutions of water spaces become an important element in the formation of architecture and landscape.

The arenas with great grandstands are the public places where the consequences of failure are very high. For this reason, according to EN 1990, they belong to CC3 class consequences of failure. The reliability class RC3 is associated with the consequences class CC3 and is defined by the reliability index β = 4.3 with probability of failure pf = 8,54*10–6. The distributions of horizontal and shear resistance within glued timber body – bolts will be described depending on material characteristics of glued timber body and bolts components. The paper will present methods of timber structural design belonging to CC3 consequences failure class.

This article proposes to use parabolic-linear diagram of deformation of steel fiber concrete under the conditions of compression. General principles of calculation method of steel fiber concrete elements. with the use of deformation diagrams of steel fiber concrete, have been submitted. The aim of this study was to present a method for calculating the deformation and deformation capacity steel fiber concrete bending elements based on the results of experimental studies. Results of tensile testing of samples allowed to put forward an analytical description of the time dependence of the stress-strain of steel fiber concrete in tension and compression, and accurately calculate the load and deflection bending elements. The experimental significance of the bearing capacity of steel fiber concrete bending elements on the fiber from the sheet and theoretical implications calculated by the proposed method have shown quite a good convergence.

General data according to the conducted examination of some monolithic and precast steel concrete constructions of tower type, which were built by authors in Ukraine in the period from 2006 to 2011, has been described in this article. Conducted research has shown that unqualified implementation of separate works and factory defects in constructional elements are the basic reason of ruining the buildings and constructions. The materials of the analysis of the consequences from ruining buildings and constructions, and their elements from the defects during implementing building – assembly works, defects from technologic and random impacts are important in the way that from this analysis certain thoughts concerning making basic actions, which are directed on dissolution of different kind of defects to provide reliable operation of buildings and constructions, can be done.

The paper refers to a method of statical calculation and to the forms of structural systems developed as results of an appropriate application of the principle of superposition. The point of the two-stage method of calculation of the statically indeterminate trusses is to do a suitable reduction of scheme of a given truss in order to obtain the scheme of a statically determinate truss together with a double application of simple methods used for these purposes and then application of superposition of obtained values of forces in appropriate members of the truss. Discussed also, are the procedures of shaping of selected forms of structural systems where the principle of superposition has been applied. It will be shown on suitable examples of the forms of a lenticular girder and of a system of combined foundation and a high-rise building.

In the paper, objects of modern hall construction of wood and mixed construction of primary structural systems are presented. Plane beam structures as well as trusses, post-and-beam construction, frame and arch construction are described in this paper. Cross-sectional dimensions and maximum span are estimated as well as information on the slope of roof surface is presented for the respective structural systems. The possibilities, restrictions and problems in shaping of architectural forms of the objects’ structural systems also are presented in the paper.

The paper presents the properties of new generation cementitious composites with fibres, such as “bendable concrete” (ECC, Engineered Cementitious Composites) (plastic, not brittle but resistant to cracking material) with the addition of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibres, high performance concrete (HPC) with glass fibres, reactive powder concrete (RPC) (characterized by ultra-high compressive strength, above 200 MPa) with short steel fibres. The detailed characteristics of the composition of the cement matrix and the role of fibres in the formation of the composite properties are described. Various applications of the composites as structural and architectural materials are also given.

In modern architecture, the roof function is not only to protect buildings against environmental influences. Designers often use single or multi-curved roofs. One of the issues to be considered at the structural design stage is selection of the support structure technology, thanks to which it will be possible to obtain a curved roof with a smooth surface. In case of objects such as airport terminals (eg., in Wroclaw, Lodz, Rzeszów- Jasionka), sports and entertainment halls, conference centers (such as presently constructed in Krakow) and theme parks, mostly self-supporting metal panels are used (usually aluminum, about the length of one element up to tens of meters. The paper will present selected issues of forming the supporting structure of the multi-curved roofs made of self-supporting metal panels.

Currently the most common stone cladding facades are made of 3 to 4 cm thick panels fixed with steel anchors. A new approach of gluing 2 cm thick stone boards directly to the thermal insulation layer made of EPS polystyrene or mineral wool insulation is currently investigated. The aim of the article is to present natural stone cladding hygrothermal properties obtained from laboratory research. Also analysis results of moisture transfer through wall thickness are provided for the walls finished with a natural stone cladding glued directly to the thermal insulation layer.

The system of external, sloping construction barriers protecting the bearing structure and the building’s interior from the influence of environment’s adverse weather conditions is one of the crucial elements of interior’s thermal and acoustic protection. The steep roof effectively protects the interior against rain, snow, and wind. Proper thermal and damp-proof protection of the attic’s microclimate space enclosed by the roof plane requires the application of new materials, which permit the system to obtain technical and functional values complying with the contemporary requirements. The roof’s plane structure requires the use of multilayered construction barrier functioning as an oblique outer wall.

The airtightness measurements of the system buildings are very important. They allow, together with the infrared tests, to verify all undesirable system joint leaks, which significantly increase the heating energy needs. In the article the results of airtightness measurements of two flats, built in system W-70, were presented. One of the buildings is after thermal modernization. During the leakage tests the system joints were monitored with the infrared camera. Thermograms, presented in the paper, confirmed the assumption about the negative influence of joints on the total building airtightness. Described tests are a pilot studies of the problem and provide the starting point to the further measurements on the statistical level.

In modern construction there appear two parallel independent trends. On the one hand, large emphasis is put on raising durability of construction works implemented through the selection of appropriate materials with parameters tailored to the specific conditions occurring during the operation of the building. On the other hand, great importance is attributed to the problem of energy-efficient building design, which is reflected in the increasingly stringent records of existing legislation. In this paper some questions were raised concerning the both issues. The article presents the results of autoclaved aerated concrete studies, in particular, the deterioration of its strength and thermal conductivity due to moistness.

The paper deals with the problem of the acoustic treatment using modern material technology in the modernization of old interiors. On the example of an auditorium with approved acoustics, that was built in 1962 and is located at the Lviv Polytechnic, some important directions in handling this type of object was shown. The acoustic measurements of the room showed, that structures used in the 60s are acoustically proper, but planned renovation should be based on modern technologies.

An attempt at the verification of simple designing rules of chosen building components is made in this paper, taking into account not only heating energy demand but also avoidance or at least reduction of cooling demand. Large south-oriented windows supply a large amount of solar energy and thus minimize the heating demand. Oversized windows and the resulting large energy gains, which are not accumulated in building’s thermal capacity and used immediately for heating, do not reduce energy demand but create unbearable conditions or a big cooling load in living spaces. A green flat roof is today a very popular solution. Its insulating and dynamic properties have been evaluated.

As far as modern building technological and material solutions, wood-based constructions are more often applied. New technologies in wood constructions allow to design and construct buildings in low-energy and passive building standards. Producers of system solutions provide the catalogues of different system construction details. The aim of this article is the analysis of thermal bridges of different solution details of both, framework and massive board wood construction. The analysis were conducted in THERM 6.3 program, prepared by Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory. THERM enables to model the effects of two- dimensional heat flow effect and is based on finite elements method, which allows modeling of both simple and geometrically complicated building components. All the results of software calculation facilitates the analysis of the heat exchange and finally allows for the estimation of energy effctiveness. Analyzis of local temperature values allows for assessment of condensation and mould growth problems.

This paper presents the results of the experimental tests of components containing alternating phase material. The measurements of a light frame wall, in two options: plate with internal drywall filling and plate containing phase variable material, were conducted in a climatic chamber. The temperature and heat flux density distribution on the surface of plates for non-stationary temperature conditions in a climatic chamber were analyzed. The research stand simulated the conditions where the cladding plates were heated with the increase of internal air temperature rather than through direct heating. The main goal of the experiment was to check the utility of the test procedure and the measurement equipment to the planned research of building components containing PCM.

The paper presents the possibility of applying the internal systems of thermal insulation of heated rooms with design guidelines. It discusses the problems of the inner insulation effect, the re-use and new aesthetics on comfort room thermo-humidistat.

This paper presents examples of modern timber building systems. The beginnings of the wooden structure systems of frame and massive structure as well as new solutions with reference to traditional ones are presented in the paper. Modern timber systems presented in the paper are selected in such a way as to show the diversity of their structure. Examples of systems based on logs, beams and plate (solid and boxes) elements are shown in the paper. Description of each system contains information about the basic elements of the structure, connection methods and materials used in their production. Degree of prefabrication and assembly methods are also discussed. Special attention is paid to the issues of the building physics of wooden partitions, thermal parameters and the thermal bridges in these structures.

The paper presents the analysis of the relation between window thermal transmittance and the window shape, size, frame profile, glazing type and opening area division. The analysis was performed in the Window 6.3 program developed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which has the possibility of a comprehensive analysis of the heat flow through the various types of windows, according to the current assessment procedure developed by the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) and comply with ISO 15099. For the purpose of the analysis a number of computer simulations of various window frames were conducted.

The article presents results of simulation of building assuming presence of phase change material in wall barriers. Obtained results were compared with the ones of a building without phase change material in wall barriers. Object of comparing calculations is a model of a real service building located in Silesia. It has light-frame construction with light covering (external metal sheet, heat-insulation, interior metal sheet). In subsequent examinations, the presence of 1 cm thick PCM board placed under the inner surface of a metal sheet was assumed. Tests were conducted for organic materials that undergo phase transition in different temperatures such as 23°C, 25°C, 27°C or 29°C. Based on results of operative temperature measurements, it is possible to determine PCM influence on the building overheating risk.