WHAT IT MEANS TO PLANT A TREE

The attention that today we pay to sustainable building requires us to preserve the green of the building tradition and to recover the active role of green in the current project of living, in line with a logic of continuity between history and future. Designing and redesigning with greenery takes on significant value both on the building scale and in the design of outdoor spaces. This gives living a unique and new dimension. The use of greenery as the primary element of the building represents a design choice useful for the regulation of the microclimate, allowing to achieve conditions of lower impact than the previous ones. Balconies, porticos, terraces and gardens are not only spaces that “widen” the domestic horizon, opening up to living in all seasons of the year. They also make it possible to control the effects of the microclimate and reduce the impact of buildings. In order for greenery to play an active role in this respect, the permeability of the ground and the horizontal surfaces constructed are necessary. These are achieved through the choice of materials and techniques that guarantee the most natural possible outflow of rainwater. Therefore, in the design logic of “measuring to know”, it is necessary to have an instrument that can quantify the action of greenery. The Municipality of Bolzano has included in its building regulations the adoption of a obligatory instrument, the R.I.E. index. (Building Impact Reduction), which is applicable to all projects on existing and new buildings. This index attributes different values to materials and construction techniques and, through an algorithm, returns a value that allows the evaluation of the impact of the intervention. The aim of the article is to show, through examples and case studies, that the R.I.E. index can be a valid tool aimed at enhancing comfort, according to a synergistic vision of living and building using natural elements of places, from stone to green.