"Environmentally Resilient and Energy Efficient Retrofit Strategies for Historically Significant Buildings: Building Enclosure and Whole Building Energy Use Analysis" discusses research on environmentally resilient and energy efficient (EE) retrofit strategies for historically significant examples of Brutalist-style buildings in the Western Balkans. It presents a case-study analysis of a civic building, the Spomen Dom cultural and memorial center, located in Kolasin, Montenegro. The study assesses its current performance and proposes sensitive EE retrofit strategies that reduce reliance on fossil fuels, enhance thermal comfort, and preserve its original design character. The goal is to exceed the globally applicable building enclosure energy-use benchmarks and meet the current energy reduction targets for existing buildings. Meanwhile, the overarching objective is to investigate the quantitative potential of improved performance for these types of existing buildings that hold cultural heritage potential, yet are not under protected status. Research methods included analysis of archival and empirical data, manual and simulated thermal performance calculations for the building’s typical building enclosure systems (opaque facade, glazed facade, roof, and floor slab systems), and simulated whole building energy use for the existing and proposed retrofit states of the case study building, considering building enclosure and mechanical systems. Results show that improvements to building enclosure systems, upgrading the mechanical systems to geo-exchange heating and cooling with mechanical ventilation, and integration of photovoltaic (PV) panels could achieve a 55% site Energy Usage Intensity (EUI) reduction. The presented analysis demonstrates a promising framework for sustainable and high-performance retrofitting applicable to any existing building in any context, especially those with cultural heritage potential, and recommendations for sustainable development specific to the transitioning economies of the Western Balkans.

Citation:

Milosevic, S., and Aksamija, A., (2025). “Environmentally Resilient and Energy Efficient Retrofit Strategies for Historically Significant Buildings: Building Enclosure and Whole Building Energy Use Analysis”, in Advanced Technologies, Systems, and Applications X, Naida Ademović, Zlatan Aksamija and Almir Karabegović, eds., Springer, Switzerland, pp. 447-474.