Innovative Block on Housing in the Mediterranean Climate

The present research deals with the problem of housing sustainability within the hot climatic and warm-humid Mediterranean macro-region. It aims at the planning of an element and a constructive system able to optimize the use of raw materials and simplify the constructive procedures. The prototype derived from such research allows the realization of small buildings in self-construction, high housing flexibility, and a significant simplification of construction procedures. The block may be built both with a single wooden material or in layers of different materials suitably assembled to be easily recovered at the end of the block life cycle. From a structural point of view, the block is fitted with internal connections able, like a metal net, to ensure high structural performance to the masonry to make it earthquake-proof. For thermo-physical aspects it may be designed with a stratification that optimizes the heat attenuation and the thermal mass, the transport properties of moist air and the ability to reduce sound transmission. Hence the identification of housing types that, by adopting a standard structural behavior and standardized blocks, allows to obtain a high housing flexibility and solve a wide spectrum of residential conditions, from those of isolated building to those of urban clogging, and pursue high environmental, social and economic compatibility.