Typological evolution of the sustainable housing: opportunities and limits

It seems that today architecture struggles to find new models for the home, hence it emphasizes or echoes solutions already widely tested, sometimes merely increasing their formal, technical and/or technological features. Instead it is not took in account, or at least not enough, the boost that could ensue from studying how the broad issue of sustainability, in particular the instances of energy efficiency and the “design for all” themes, could affects the dwelling space. The attention to the energy topics could in return emphasize the criteria of exposure/orientation of the building fronts, the responsible use of materials, and could encourage greater awareness of the possibility of external shielding systems, of green roofs and facades ... A careful consideration on architectural barriers could suddenly put an end to multiple floor interior spaces or turn the ramp from subsidiary element to raison d’être of the home. We want to explore this line of research to investigate whether the cultural potential of sustainability as above outlined will result in a mere restyling of standard models or whether it will lead to a new architectural order for the design and the use of domestic space.