Of the 20.000 sq meters of hilly landscape, the location for the house was chosen in the middle of the south slope so that the top of the hill would protect it from cold winter winds. At the same time the view of the Farfa river Valley from the house would not be in anyway obstructed (Figure 3).

2. The design of the house

The house project was developed according to the following principles:

1. Advantage of the local renewable energy resources should be taken such as sun, vegetation, breezes and winds through bioclimatic strategies and solar technologies for

heating and cooling naturally the building.

2. Traditional as well as innovative technologies are to be used so as to disseminate similar solutions in the area;

3. Technological and morphological solutions that could be applied in existing constructions are recommended;

4. Building materials with low environmental impact are to be used.

The house shape draws its inspiration from local architectural traditional buildings: very compact structures broken by terraces facing the valley (Figure 4). For administrative limitation required by the Regional Competition “Zero Emission Residential Buildings”4, the house was divided into two compact volumes (volume A and B) and organized around a Mediterranean patio with an olive tree in the centre (Figure 5). The olive tree is the most common tree of the area.

Volume A

PIANTA DEL PIANO TERRA

Fig. 5 — Floor plan of the house

A terrace facing south and covered by a light canopy of deciduous climbing plants, essential to control solar radiation in the summer, links the two volumes. This solution allows taking advantage of the surrounding microclimate of the house, particularly during the summer.

A terrace, a garage, a technical room and a storage room are built under the terrace with a portion of their south wall above the ground. The solar thermal and photovoltaic technologies are integrated on this wall. This solution while respecting the natural land slopes minimizes the terrain movement (Figure 6).

The organization of the rooms follows bioclimatic principles so that the main rooms face

Only project of 95 sq meters houses will be financed.

south while the service spaces face north. The most important transparent surfaces face south so as to take advantage of sun radiation in winter as well as the beautiful panorama in all seasons (Figure 7). All rooms are daylighted.

The two volumes have windows in the four facades, in order to allow natural cross ventilation (Figure 6). Moreover, since part of the house is very high, openings in the upper part of the volume are designed in order to promote the “stack effect” during the summer when there is no wind.