Casa Quattro is a sustainable home made from wood, straw and cork

Casa Quattro is a sustainable home made from wood, straw and cork. Designed by LCA Architetti to overlooking a small wood of acacias, the home was created to work in close contact with nature. Cork sheets with a 3D pressed pattern have been used as external cladding and provide insulation, texture and decorative patterning to the otherwise simple facade.

The 100% solar powered home was built using timber for structural elements and straw has been used for insulation, alongside the external cork panels. Stone and Oak timber feature in the home’s interiors, which was influenced by the client’s wish to live close to nature. Almost all materials used are natural, sustainable and durable and can easily be recycled if the building is decommissioned.

This north facing home has a centralised light well which bathes the home in natural light via a north facing glazed atrium and full height glazing facing the south. These large expanses of glazing also provide unobstructed views to the sky and the surrounding countryside.

Cork is the bark of the cork oak tree and is the only tree which can regenerate itself after each harvest. The tree is allowed to grow for 20 years before it’s first harvest then two thirds of the bark is stripped off then it is left to regenerate for nine years and is stripped again. This cycle repeats itself until the tree is about 150 years old, when it is finally replaced. Cork has wide range of uses in the building industry ranging from flooring, insulation sheets (for sound and temperature), bulletin boards, table tops, furniture, wall coverings and some architects use it for architectural models. It is lightweight, elastic, resilient, impermeable to liquids and gases, natural fire retardant, doesn’t absorb dust so it’s useful for allergy sufferers. It’s grown mostly in the Mediterranean region.

Sustainability specs:
– 100% solar powered
– Highly insulated using straw and cork
– Passive design, house faces north and living spaces are located along the northern facade
– Timber used for structural elements
– Cork wall sheeting – cork is a regenerative material
– Natural and sustainable materials used throughout – cork, straw, stone flooring
– Sustainable wood, straw, cork

The intention was to ennoble elements (cork and straw) that are very poor in themselves to highlight their unique characteristics in terms not only of sustainability, efficiency and durability but also and above all of aesthetic beauty.

The will of the designer and the clients was to work on a bio-ecological project, ethically correct, with a simple and natural soul and an almost primitive bare architecture.