Refurbishment of traditional alpine buildings: a lesson from the past?

Traditional alpine buildings can still convey, despite hundreds of years, a wide range of meanings. In their position, orientation, form, in the selection of local materials, in their construction technology and in the possibility to be easily repaired they seem to show something that could be called ante-litteram sustainability. Their refurbishment on one side it is a way to transmit and propose again this teaching; on the other, by giving to these buildings a new function in a social and economical changed context, it asks the fulfilment of new requirements. This practically means a building adaptation to new performances and accordingly the introduction in the building site of different materials than the original stone and wood. The paper will present and analyse the refurbishment of two case studies located in Selva di Cadore (BL), as regards in particular the issue of building materials and their environmental sustainability. Case studies analysis will be based on building elements, requirements needed, original materials and materials used in the refurbishment. Starting from the principles that generated and maintained these original buildings and with the support of literature on sustainability, the paper will identify some criteria in the selection of building materials in the refurbishment of traditional alpine buildings.