I want to give everyone the opportunity to sleep in a “green, passive house”. Only living in a similar building can one truly understand how important they are for a person’s wellbeing. And only through these buildings can I explain at best my job, and the concept behind the Eco Hub Design project”

Chiara Brigatti

As she walks in the snow towards a forest of centuries-old chestnut trees, Chiara points to a group of houses, dwellings that have been abandoned for decades. “That’s where my grandmother grew up. She’s not too happy about our choice to live here in Castello dell’Acqua, she says. The memories of Chiara’s grandmother – who grew up between the First and Second World Wars – are linked to cold and discomfort. But these are adversities that Chiara and her husband Andrea are not going to experience: she, who has a degree in Construction Engineering-Architecture from Milan Polytechnic, specializes in conscious and sustainable design, and in 2018 she conceived and developed the Eco Hub Design, project, with which, in that same year, she took part in the ReStartAlp “on-campus” project.

Her work revolves around green building and the use of local wood: the beautiful late 19th century house she bought last year with Andrea in Castello dell’Acqua will be her “business card”. “At the moment we live in Sondrio. We looked for the right house for us throughout the Valtellina valley for a long time: in addition to our apartment, Andrea needs a carpentry workshop and I need my own office, plus we thought of opening a small B&B, because it is difficult to tell people what “passive houses and green building” means – it is much more effective to let them experience what living in one is like. Here, we have all the space we needed, developing over four floors”.