Z E M C H 2 0 1 2 I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e
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the last ten years, there has been a strong increase in the consumption of electric
energy,
VULCANO, from Greek Ίερά
21 km² - c. 300 people
LIPARI, from Greek Λιπάρα
37,6 km² - c. 10.700 people
SALINA, from Greek Διδύμη
26,8 km² - c. 2.300 people
FILICUDI, from Greek Φοινικοῦσσα
9,7 km² - c. 250 people
ALICUDI, from Greek Ἐρικοῦσσα
5,2 km² - c. 100 people
PANAREA, from Greek Εύώνυμος
3,4 km² - c. 240 people
STROMBOLI, from Greek Στρογγύλη
12,6 km² - c. 400 people
Figure 1: Aeolian Islands: map, area and people.
due to the fall in price of the air conditioning (AC) systems. In fact, this has caused an
exponential growth in the number of the domestic AC units and so nowadays the electric
energy consumption is more alarming than the use of methane or other fossil fuels.
To contrast this situation the more efficient actions are those that are addressing directly
the figure and the nature of the buildings, showing the designer a frame of devices to
assume the concept of the architectonic elements.
Energy saving and spontaneous architecture
As it is not necessary to speak about the inevitability of energy saving, as I have already
said, it is unnecessary to demonstrate that the ‘wasteful’ building is a son of the
International Style. In fact to imagine the architectures as a glass box, to use light
materials for external walls, the plain roofs, the precasting elements etc. have concluded
to think of the buildings as things that are indifferent to the climate conditions, to the
construction traditions and to the materials locally available. As you know the design
procedures that led to the birth of
Ville Savoje
,
Farnsworth House
or the
Deuthesche
Siedlung
, were based on the indifference about the surrounding context: to fight the
ancient architectonic styles, already antiquated and infertile, even the Masters of Modern
Architecture have renounced the relations with their surroundings.
This approach is emphasized by the urban landscape. Since the ancient times, this has
been used to drive the designer to assign to the public space a prominent role among
the other design factors. So the living room is positioned on the main street front, rather
than on the one with the better orientatio
.
So, if you look for a reference model of design, largely careful on the context it is
appropriate to fix your attention on the extra urban area and away by the predominant
culture. To this aim you can consider the Aeolian house analysis. In fact it is located
where the modern building techniques have not been able to penetrate for long time and
where the urban landscape has had a very limited influence.
The Aeolian Islands: history, landscape and architecture
The Aeolian Islands are situated off the northern coast of Sicily, less more than 12
nautical miles from Cape of Milazzo. There are seven large inhabited islands and
numerous rocky outcrops. The larger of the “Seven Sisters” (as the locals call them) is
1
Effectively, from this point of view, the performance of Modern Architecture has been positive because it
has broken the
rue corridor
of the city of the nineteenth-century and has created a free urban space in
which the position of the buildings it is not linked to the road alignment, with all the consequent
advantages.
