Designing and building green homes
This technical text, updated to the recent EPBD Directive (so-called Green Houses), provides information on how to design and build a green house, from the foundations to the roof. The work is structured in chapters, which refer to the individual construction components of the building, such as foundations, walls, roof, floors, etc. The construction elements and materials are analyzed by distinguishing their green building and sustainable components, considering that the two terms are not synonymous with the same concept. It represents the most recent and complete attempt to systematize the knowledge, techniques and materials representing a “green” approach to construction. But green building is not simply “the art of building according to nature”. As the Author highlights: The green house, like any other form of construction, is based on mediations, or rather on the acceptance of those materials and technologies that are not actually derived from nature, but that constitute a conditio sine qua non, because they do not have a valid “natural” alternative and are therefore indispensable for achieving a specific goal. Operating green or in green building does not therefore mean rejecting and excluding synthetic materials a priori, for example, but, on the contrary, optimizing their use. The work, therefore, for its completeness, scientific rigor and never abstract treatment, guides the reader on an exciting technical and ethical journey to learn how to design and build sustainable, green and ecological houses. Roberto Sacchi freelance architect, owner of the studio Cultura&Ambiente, CasaClima consultant and expert in architectural ecology, with over thirty years of experience in the study of materials and insulation in construction. Co-founder of INDEP (National Institute of Diagnostics and Building Pathology), since 2005 he has been teaching at the Polis Maker Master at the Milan Polytechnic.
