W o o d e n B u i l d i n g s a n d t h e Q u e s t f o r S u s t a i n a b i l i t y
211
WOODEN BUILDINGS AND THE QUEST FOR SUSTAINABILITY:
THE ITALIAN SERENDIPITOUS EXPERIENCE.
Alberto La Tegola
1
1
Department of Innovation Engineering, University of Salento – Lecce, Italy
Abstract
The scientific and academic community of Architecture nowadays devotes much
attention to the concept of “sustainable building”. As a consequence, construction
companies are starting to update production to achieve this aim. However, the
mainstream market does not always follow this trend; indeed, in some countries, such as
Italy, new buildings are judged by parameters that have little or nothing to do with the
modern concept of eco sustainability. In fact, in geographic areas where natural stones
and concrete have been used for centuries, only modern implementations of these
traditional materials are now used in construction and the demand for eco-sustainable
resources is quite low. It must be noted that even in these countries, thanks to timely
investments and research in innovative production processes of prefabricated wood,
some companies are already able to propose building solutions that satisfy eco
sustainability standards as well as low maintenance costs and durability.
Based on last year’s experience in prefabricated wooden houses built in Italy, this study
shows how these new proposals, although born with different aims, as for example
design and comfort living, have serendipitously fully operated in the field of eco-
sustainability.
Keywords:
housing, wooden houses, glulam, sustainable development,
Introduction
“Sustainability means being able to respond to the needs of today without prejudicing the
capacity of future generations to meet their own needs” Our Common Future, The World
Commission on Environment & Development, 1987.
"Sustainable development is a very simple concept. It means ensuring that we can all
enjoy a better quality of life, both now and for future generations”
Opportunities for Change, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions,
1998
Sustainable architecture is testing the professional conscience of architects and
designers alike. For example, Gùnter Moewes (1) sustains that much of what will be built
under the guise of "ecological building" will be buildings that, at most, can be said to
comply with current environmental regulations: "True ecological architecture is more akin
to the “conventional” architecture of the early nineteen hundreds than so-called avant-
garde architecture of today. At the basis of this opinion is the concept of entropy, a
concept that comes from physics and based on the second law of thermodynamics,
which states that a process that takes place within an isolated system always proceeds
in a particular direction, i.e., from more order to less order. Therefore, entropy is an
expression of increasing disorder or randomness, i.e., a physical state and not a process.
Indeed, the earth is an example of an isolated system, in that the only significant quantity
that enters is the sun’s rays. Therefore, energy can be produced in a given place only by
increasing entropy. Since this is the way all economic activities function, we have a big
problem, which also involves the sphere of natural laws. Instead of simply changing
