Tradition and innovation in zero energy balance and zero CO2 emission housing development

The paper presents a research study and a final design proposal for new social housing in the peri-urban context of Tricase, a town located in Puglia in the south of Italy. The context reading and design procedure aim at investigating the energy and environmental potential of both outdoor spaces and new housing design as an integrated system within the urban rehabilitation procedure of a fringe peri-urban and degraded area: “sustainable” paths linking the open spaces within the area -and the same area to the remaining part of the city- have been regarded as key elements to improve local urban conditions. The building design combines passive tools (high thermal inertia brick wall structures -as an evolution of the traditional stone construction of the region-, high albedo materials, solar shading devices, ventilation strategies, etc.) with solar and wind energy micro-generation, resulting in a comprehensive plan for “Zero local CO2 emission and Zero Energy balance” housing development. Further investigations were conducted to accurately assess the study of the thermal performance of the buildings, using different software tools and a CFD simulation with Ansys CFX for natural ventilation strategies. Results show that integration of active and passive techniques in urban and building types can lead to feasible, energy-efficient and low-cost solutions where the respect of tradition may translate into high quality performing buildings within recognizable urban environments. In the search for a reasonable co-habitation between innovation and tradition, it is therefore evident that technological innovation –if specifically integrated within built landscapes and new building types- can even be enhanced by the critical reading of context and the awareness of existing environmental resources.