Straw Houses at Lake Garda

Straw walls are known for their transpiration, guaranteeing a healthy atmosphere inside a building without condensation or mould. This natural system that regulates internal humidity also is a wonderful insulator of heat and sound which, in a straw house gives you a feeling of well-being and comfort.

Casa Viva breathes: here’s how

To use Mother Nature’s gifts fully, the houses and their windows were designed bearing in mind the direction of the wind and the sunrise and sunset. With a water diviner, we looked for sources of water and dug a 60m deep well to bring the water to the house.

The foundations are in iron cages filled with stones, to which are fixed with steel pins the larch beams that define the limits of the buildings. To curbs are fixed the vertical pillars of wood which form the main support of the houses. Then the walls put together at the sawmill are hoisted into place by crane, as if they were Lego parts!

The walls, from outside to inside, are of larch or fir wood from Trentino, a sheet that protects the straw from water, the straw, horizontal straw canes and plaster that has been used to build for centuries.

The roofs are covered by Sedum, a succulent plant that filters the air like lungs. Under the green roof, three beams, the straw and an air chamber make the roof. The attics are made of straw, rice chaff and cork. The fixtures are all different recycled pieces.

Under the terracotta flooring runs fresh water from the well for summer cooling and heating in the winter when the water has been heated by solar panels.

Casa Viva breathes – really breathes and we feel this as our mission.

With this, our dream, we want to show that living in symbiosis with Nature is really possible and that everyone must do their part to slow down, get rid of excess and leave the world in a better state than we have found it.