Food processing building

Students acquire basic technical skills on framing and building components, functional and plant aspects of buildings for the agro-industry.

The constructive and functional aspects of buildings for agro-industry are addressed in order to obtain optimal conditions for agro-food production, with specific regard to the wellbeing of operators and the optimization of production processes as well as their sustainability.

The basic elements are defined for understanding how agro-industrial buildings and their functional organization contribute to the achievement of production objectives.

The course also focuses on the valorization of traditional agro-industrial buildings existing in the rural territory.

Case studies and application examples of agro-industrial buildings will be examined.

Frontal teaching, exercises, technical visits.

If teaching is given in a mixed formula or remotely, necessary changes may be introduced to what was previously stated in order to comply with the privided and reported syllabus.

Learning assessment may also be carried out on line, should the conditions require it.

As a guarantee of equal opportunities and in compliance with current laws, interested students can ask for a personal interview in order to plan any compensatory and/or dispensatory measures, based on their specific needs and on teaching objectives of the discipline.

It is also possible to ask the departmental contacts of CInAP (Center for Active and Participatory Integration - Services for Disabilities and/or DSAs), in the persons of professors Giovanna Tropea Garzia and Anna De Angelis.

Principles of building technology (3 hours)

The structural problem in the agri-industrial buildings. Function and significance of the building structure. Mutual influences between the structural system and the building functional and compositional aspects. Main loads acting on the buildings. Knowledge of construction elements technology: reinforced concrete structures, steel structures, bearing masonry, foundations, slabs, roofs.

Graphical representation of the project (4 hours)

Methods of projection and representation: planimetry, elevation, section. Drawing sheets: formats, arrangement of graphic elements, folding. Scales of representation. Types of lines and their main uses. Dimensioning. Preliminary, definitive, and executive project. Technical reports and drawings.

Old wineries of the traditional rural architecture in Sicily (2 hours)

Definition of “rural architecture”. Main building and functional solutions for traditional wineries: area of crushing, area of fermentation, area of pressing, wine cellar.

Wine cellars (3 hours)

Dimensioning, building characteristics and functional organization of modern wine cellars: conferment, crushing, pressing, vinification, storage, maturation and fining, bottling and packaging, warehouse for finished products.

Cheese factories (5 hours)

Localization aspects. Analysis of the working cycle, the product flows and the workers paths. Distributional-functional phase: Identification and sizing of the different sectors of the building. Small cheese factories.

Oil mills (3 hours)

Dimensioning, building characteristics and functional organization of modern oil mills: conferment, pressing and extraction, storage, packaging.

Fresh-cut buildings (3 hours)

Analysis of the working cycle, the product flows and the workers paths. Identification and sizing of the building spaces: reception, processing, cold rooms, office and laboratories, packaging storage, collection and storage of products and by-products. Aspects concerning environmental sustainability.

Hygiene and safety (2 hours)

Building solutions and materials for the hygiene and safety in the agri-industrial buildings: height and cubature, floorings and coverings, escape routes, doors, windows, stairs, changing rooms, toilets, refectory.

Thermal comfort and indoor pollution (4 hours)

Thermal comfort. Main heat exchanges between man and environment. Thermal comfort indices. The indoor pollution: physical, chemical and microbiological.

Construction sustainability in agro-industrial buildings (5 hours)

Materials for sustainable architecture: Loam, mortars, ceramic materials. Plasters: characteristics of materials and application methods. Thermal insulation: performance requirements and methods of insulation. Breathability and thermal inertia. Animal, vegetal, and mineral insulating materials. The wood: glued laminated timber, X-LAM panels. Green roofs.

Exercises (14 hours)

Compositional and communicative aspects of the project. Dimensioning and planimetric solutions of modern wine cellars. Examinations of projects of modern wine cellars. Dimensioning and planimetric solutions of modern oil mills. Examinations of projects of modern oil mills. Relationship between landscape and agri-industrial buildings.

1) - AA.VV. “Architettura sostenibile” a cura di Luca Castelli, Manuali tecnici UTET, 2008.

2) - Allen E., "I fondamenti del costruire. I materiali, le tecniche, i metodi", McGraw Hill Italia, 1997..

3) - Barreca F. (a cura di), "Linee guida per la progettazione dei frantoi oleari", Iiriti Editore, 2011.

4) - Maines F., "Elementi per la progettazione di una cantina", Istituto agrario San Michele, 2008.

5) - Maines F.. Iiritano A., Crecente P., Centis B., "Genio rurale per gli istituti tecnici indirizzo agrario, agroalimentare e agroindustria" (pagg. 593-632), Hoepli, 2019.

6) - Rossetti M., "Cantine: tecnologia, architetture, sostenibilità", Maggioli Editore, 2011.

7) - Supporti didattici forniti dal docente