Abitare con la natura: la casa contemporanea tra hortus conclusus e giardini verticali. Living with nature: the contemporary home between hortus conclusus and vertical gardens

The twentieth century produced an extraordinary effort to change the forms and ways of living at home, boldly breaking down any barrier with the outside world and introducing nature into domestic architecture. In more recent years, there has been a progressive decline in attention towards the search for new forms of housing, on the fringes of both the interest of architectural culture and national policies, interest in social housing or the problem of adaptation energy and technology of the existing building stock. The recent pandemic has represented an opportunity to rethink the forms of contemporary living. It has posed new questions from a health, economic and social point of view, pushing us to adopt models of social distancing hitherto unknown. However, it has forced us to change our relationship with the home significantly. With the support of in-depth scientific studies, the research on the close relationships that link the quality of health, environmental pollution, the presence of greenery, sunshine and ventilation has returned to the fore. As in the heroic years of research on rational housing, today, there is a greater awareness of the importance of building houses based on correct relationships with the natural environment, and of the positive influence this can have on the quality of life, as well as and on the psychological well-being of the inhabitants. While it is true that the solutions of aerial gardens, loggias and garden roofs refer to a repertoire of consolidated solutions, the most recent use of greenery in the facades of buildings is a very different feature of novelty, which is progressively spreading. From a disciplinary point of view, however, this solution presents several problems because, by proposing to replace traditional forms and materials with natural ones, it is the bearer of a substantially anti-architectural ideology.