The sick practices that we have shied away from:

95% of people have no idea how the house they bought and live in is made; for many it is the most significant expenditure of their life, but still, they don’t care about what materials are used to make the soles of the floor, the walls, how the house is insulated (if it is insulated!) from the cold, from the heat, from noises: they linger on many variables such as the arrangement of the rooms, on whether heating is central or independent, on what the appurtenances are and, to conclude, only on what is visible to the eye. Very often no attention is paid to very important factors such as the energy classification (at least until its notification was made mandatory), the building technique, the “raw material” used, etc. It is all about quantity but little about quality and details.

From “Il libro completo della bioedilizia“, Edizioni Giunti-Demetra:

“Even if at first blush it may sound exaggerated, the World Health Organization (WHO), after in-depth analysis, established that air pollution that is created nowadays inside houses/offices, because of the combination of various harmful substances, is even higher than the pollution outside. But here is the thing: the sick building we are talking about is not, as may be expected, the classic hovel dripping damp from the walls or poorly lit, but a new and bright or even restructured building. The same WHO claims that the main reasons for indoor pollution may be referred to the modern building techniques and in particular to the emissions from artificial insulating materials, from paints, from lacquering, from diluents and impregnating agents, as well as from synthetic coatings of walls and ceilings. It calculates that approximately 1/3 of buildings made in the last 30 years in industrialized countries are built so that they may cause inconveniences to inhabitants and that approximately 40% of materials used in building is potentially aggressive.” Our houses, sealed, furnished, comfortable, polished and scrupulously disinfected – accurately “separated” from the outdoor environment, understood as a dump of our waste or of residues of our industrial productions – have paradoxically been filled with such a combination of components, exhalations and products which generate a pollution of the indoor setting which generates a serious interference on our biological system, consisting of multiple elements, characteristics and relationships. Sick Building Syndrome: one of the main causes which allegedly combine in causing the so-called “sick building syndrome” that mainly appears on people living in new buildings or in newly restructured buildings which are turned in a sort of “airtight rooms”, researchers identify: the poor ventilation in indoor areas, too much light, the presence of fumes generated by the combustion of tobacco, dry air, the use of home and personal deodorants. In addition, the emission of harmful substances from building materials, the excessive use of hygiene products, the use of video terminals, the shortage of negative ions in the air, the presence of synthetic materials and textiles, noise, the general conditions of stress typical of our times are very harmful”.

The rules to follow to build green:

From “Il libro completo della bioedilizia“, Edizioni Giunti-Demetra:

Prof. Schneider, from the Institut fur Baubiologie und Dekologie, has summarily listed the requirements to comply with when designing and building a building according to sustainable architecture criteria:

1. the land on which the building will stand should be devoid of geological disturbances (water streams, overhead and underground magnetic fields).
2. The building should be located far from industrial areas and traffic flows.
3. The buildings should be evenly spaced and located amidst green areas.
4. The house should be designed to measure for its inhabitants and allow for the creation of communities.
5. Natural, non-sophisticated building materials should be used.
6. The outer walls, as well as the inner walls, should allow steam to perspire.
7. The ambient humidity should be adjusted naturally and hygroscopic materials should be favoured.
8. The outer walls should filter the air harmful agents and neutralize them.
9. There should be a balance of thermal features (for example accumulation, insulation, damping).
10. The ambient temperature and the surface temperature should be optimal.
11. Heating should be radiant, with maximum use of sun energy.
12. Drying time of the building should be short.
13. Once the construction is completed, the building should not release strong smells but pleasant scents and it should not emit toxic vapours.
14. The colors, illumination and light should be as natural as possible.
15. By building arrangements a protection against noise and vibration should be provided for.
16. The building materials should not emit radiations.
17. The natural electric field of air and the physiological ionisation of rooms should be preserved.
18. The natural magnetic field should not be changed.
19.  The presence of electromagnetic fields induced by unshielded installations should be avoided.
20. Influences on terrestrial cosmic radiations should be avoided.
21. It is necessary to pay attention to furniture and the shapes of the rooms.
22. It is necessary to respect harmonic measures, proportions and shapes.
23. Sustainable and low-consumption materials should be used (in production, in commissioning and also in case of demolition).
24. It is necessary to favour materials which do not impoverish the depleting resources of raw materials.
25. It is necessary to design so that there are no detrimental social consequences.