04 – Brease

Challenge

The topic of energy poverty is to be addressed and projects created that help people affected by energy poverty. The requirement is to decide on a specific region and to first conduct research on the form in which energy poverty exists, who is affected, and what the effects are.

Outcome

We have focused on the poorest region of Italy, the south. There are many old buildings here that urgently need to be renovated. Due to a lack of money, these buildings remain poorly insulated and the residents have no way of maintaining a comfortable indoor temperature in the very hot summer.

Brease is an energy-saving, thermally insulating and modular panel system made of clay bricks and metal pipes that can be adapted to the facades of buildings to provide thermal comfort without using any energy. The panels become a vertical garden over time with the help of plants that grow from pots inside the bricks, providing shade and cooling.