Until recently, “the hashtag” was “#energy saving”. Cutting electricity and heat bill consumption has been the focus of the entire construction industry for years, especially that relating to the residential and tertiary sectors. With increasingly innovative solutions, to be applied both for new buildings and in the case of renovations.
Today it is no longer enough. Efficient buildings are a growing reality in Italy, but the standard to aim for is higher: we are talking not only about efficiency, but also about comfort, thermal, acoustic and visual well-being, healthy indoor air, in other words about perfect integration between a house and its inhabitants. Furthermore, the demand for new services at home and a new sociality is changing the very concept of the building: thought of less and less as a set of units separated from each other and more and more as a place in which to live together with a community and share space.
The theme of comfort and the relocation of living spaces has already been the protagonist of the thematic focuses developed by the Made Observatory, a permanent platform for debate and information. «The construction systems available on the market today offer us enormous possibilities in terms of energy saving and attention to the environment. However, these two topics do not always go hand in hand with the perception of the inhabitants inside an apartment or in an office - comments Leopoldo Busa, designer of Bio-safe, a company that works for the prevention of pollution in places of life and work -. Paradoxically, we make the mistake of paying too much attention to the thermo-hygrometric well-being of an indoor environment without considering other parameters, which influence the sensations of those who experience a space". The lack of correct air exchange as well as the presence of dust and mold or pollutants (substances that can also be released from construction elements, coverings and furnishings) are among the causes that undermine well-being and also cause discomfort. In the same way, incorrect lighting of the rooms, the presence of noises coming from outside or from nearby accommodation or an imbalance in the preparation of the heating and cooling systems mean that, even in the presence of technologies that focus all their cards on reducing waste, it is not possible to achieve the desired comfort. «Intangible elements such as internal thermoregulation and the predominance of natural light – explain the Observatory technicians – contribute as much as physical and material ones to the liveability of buildings and homes and some construction technologies represent the exact meeting point of these two dimensions». Everything, however, passes and can be solved thanks to good planning.
The theme of environmental well-being also intersects with that of the composition of space. The house divides its spaces and shares the services that, until yesterday, were sought in the neighborhood. New or renovated buildings are designed as multifunctional spaces. The reuse of built-up areas also becomes the only possible response to the choice not to consume new things. In the common areas it is possible to create usable environments such as nurseries, swimming pools, spaces for parties and welcoming guests, areas to manage solidarity purchases, recreational clubs for the elderly, gyms, rooms for eating together and sharing interests, laundries. Everything passes through increasingly participatory planning, in which the architect's client is not the company, but the final inhabitant.
Grimaldi Padua
Padua - 35137 - Via G. Matteotti, 27
e-mail: padovacentro@grimaldifranchising.it
Tel. +39 49 663 033 - VAT number 05301660287
Grimaldi Cadoneghe
Cadoneghe (PD) - 35010 - Via G. Franco, 2/A
e-mail: cadoneghe@grimaldifranchising.it
tel. +39 049 88 736 56 - VAT number 05322440289