High sustainable agricultural building

This study concerns the design of an agricultural building with a high degree of sustainability, to be built in a farm located in Campagnatico (Grosseto), in the south of Tuscany Region. The building, intended mainly to wine cellar, offers innovative construction solutions of high deconstructibility, and has features of low environmental impact, economic competitiveness and constructive simplicity. In particular, the design of the basement cellar involves the use of gabions, composed of galvanized wire netting, and stones obtained from the owner farm lands, for the realization of the foundations, the ground retaining walls and of all other bearing walls. Ground retaining walls and foundations are externally waterproofed with bentonite clay sheets, while the inside surface can be left as it is, or plastered with clay or lime. A different solution is adopted for the external wall which remains entirely above ground: it is also made by gabions, but it is externally covered with a coat of straw bales and plastered of clay or lime. The roof is made with a load bearing structure made by steel beams and galvanized steel sheets. A layer of fertile soil is arranged on the roof to form a green roof system. The indoor flooring is made of loose bricks arranged on a layer of loose sand. Low sustainble ordinary building materials, such as concrete and masonry, are never used in any part of the building. This research of the GESAAF Department is intended to contribute to policies for the management of rural territory of Tuscany Region, spreading the design criteria of deconstructible buildings, based on the use of natural materials with low environmental and economic impact.