The Kofler building in Bolzano dates back to 1746, the object of the intervention was built shortly after the main house dates back to 1749. This part of the building has been used as orangery, at the time in Bolzano were grown tropical fruits and the city it was famous for the cultivation of pineapple.
Around the year 1925 the orangery has been converted into a house. As a curiosity it is reported that in 1769 Kofler building hosted for a few days Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The aim of this intervention is maintaining the architectural composition, the large windows that evoke original function and at the same time an energy recovery to significantly reduce the energy requirement of 505 kWh / m2 per year, to achieve the standard CasaClima.
The building is protected by the “Superintendence of Cultural Heritage” and has a very critical shape from the energy point of view, given by elongated volume with a high percentage of the outer casing. Furthermore, the orientation is not optimal and solar gains are relatively low. The relatively unhappy orientation and the requirements of the Superintendent, not least the need to preserve the secular garden made this a special challenge that required several analyzes and preliminary studies.
From a technical point it was made as follows: -combination of external insulation (façade toward the inner court) and internal insulation (on the façade facing the street) to safeguard the aesthetic and historic aspect protected by the Superintendence; -energy efficient windows; -controlled mechanical ventilation with heat recovery; -Employment of companies that have followed CasaClima courses.
All reported interventions were done in the maximum respect for the historicity of the building in order to minimize the renovation’s impact on the aesthetics of the original. The importance of the project has also been recognized by some organizations as the University of Bolzano which followed didactically the construction site, the EURAC academy that will monitor the performance of the completed building and the CasaClima agency that will implement the "Know How"in his courses.
The project allowed us to achieve energy performance of 30 kWh / m² per year enough to get the certification CasaClima A + where “+” is emblematic of the use of low environmental impact materials. At the conclusion of the works, the project has also had the honor of winning the award for “Best CasaClima 2008”.
