In response to growing demands for energy efficiency and environmental performance, modern buildings increasingly adopt advanced cladding systems such as Permeable Double Skin Façades (PDSFs). These systems consist of an inner glazed layer and an external permeable shading layer, typically made of brise-soleils. While PDSFs improve ventilation, solar control and energy efficiency, their aerodynamic behavior under extreme wind conditions is still not fully understood. The presence of a porous outer layer significantly modifies the wind flow around the building, introducing uncertainties in wind load estimation and structural safety.

The SaFEx (Safe Design of Porous Façades Exposed to Extreme Wind Conditions) project addresses this gap through a collaboration between Politecnico di Milano and the University of Bologna. The project aims to develop validated methodologies for the aerodynamic assessment and safe design of PDSFs by integrating wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamics simulations. This combined approach enables systematic comparison between experimental and numerical results, improving the reliability of wind load predictions for porous façade systems.

The outcomes of the project are expected to enhance understanding of wind–façade interactions, support design-oriented guidelines, and contribute to advances in Computational and Experimental Wind Engineering applied to porous civil structures, with potential implications for standards and best practices.