Building with nature: the case of “Case di Luce”

Abstract

Case di Luce is a Near Zero Energy Building and it is part of a sustainable urban regeneration that avoids land consumption, improving the area, sites in Bisceglie, a city of the south of Italy. A complex system of public spaces increases urban quality, matching residential NZEB with new infrastructures. The design experimentation stems from a holistic approach, linked to the themes of bio-architecture, eco-sustainability, environmental and living comfort. The architectural language is based on Nature and Bioclimatism. The project envisages as principles of sustainability new constructive techniques and natural materials as the backbones of the architectural composition, in a Mediterranean language. These elements are two. The first are greenhouses, the elements of passive capture of solar energy and of mediation between internal and external parts. The second is the “sail” cover - to accommodate the solar thermal and photo-voltaic panels – that allow the improvement of the architectural style and facilitate the achievement of the visual and thermal comfort. Great technical, ethical and environmental attention characterizes the building’s walls that are indeed realized with hemp and lime bricks, a mixture that is completely recyclable, bio-compatible, able to capture CO2. The use of breathable, green certified and non-toxic materials facilitates high standards of living. The building is certificated by CasaClima Gold 10 kWh/m2a and won the GREEN BUILDING AWARD 2016.