The house that respects the environment

The example of ille haus, the innovative, sustainable, technological and comfortable wooden house.

Roots and VisionSustainable, innovative, technological, low-energy, comfortable, earthquakeproof, durable, safe and certified. It’s made from wood, a renewable material from certified forests, its appearance can be traditional Alpine or boldly contemporary. It’s one of the most cutting-edge ways to use a material that has been known and used for thousands of years: wood. We are talking about a house designed and built by Ille, a company with plenty of experience in building prefabricated wooden buildings. They are currently the top company in Italy in this field, with numerous completed and ongoing housing projects in the Alps, from Madonna di Campiglio to Switzerland. They’re also present in some other countries abroad. Founded in Spiazzo at the beginning of the 1950s as a sawmill and carpentry workshop on the initiative of grandfather Leopoldo Terzi, the first prefabricated wooden houses were produced at the end of the 1960s. Today, with its headquarters, production plant and showroom in Pieve di Bono, the company operates in Valle del Chiese, an area in Trentino that stands out for its artisan vocation and high quality industrial specialisation. Ille is run by the Terzi family, which is now in its third generation of “wood innovators”, with a motivated and dynamic workforce, while the fourth generation is growing and will find the doors open to join the company in the future.

Wood, Design and Innovation“When I introduce our company to new people – explains Elia Terzi, technical director of Ille Haus – I show them a section of a centuries-old larch tree. I put the years of experience we have, which are over seventy, in the concentric rings, and then I put the strengths of our product in there too. These strengths have grown and improved over time: functionality and comfort, emotion and sustainability, nature and renewable energy resources, and finally bio-architecture. We build turnkey wooden houses from start to finish, from the preliminary design to delivery. We use models that we can customise according to customer requirements, from our “Design d’autore” line, or we work on exclusive projects designed by professionals, architects and designers. We often work on buildings that have made their history by replacing them with new, better performing ones. We like to bring old things back to life, keeping with tradition while also giving a home a more modern and contemporary look.

“The virtuous relationship between man and nature gives life to a true culture of wood and forest. A culture that we’ve been sharing for sixty years, across borders, throughout Italy” - Elia Terzi

Giving New Life to WoodIn some projects, we’ve reused old wood that was destined for the dump, salvaging it from old farmhouses and giving it a new lease of life. You can see the result for yourself in the many projects that are springing up all over the Madonna di Campiglio tourist area. “It is important to say - adds the technical director - that the wood used comes from the local supply chain and is PEFC-certified, which guarantees the sustainability of the forest management from which it comes. We apply the best available technology to the raw material in order to build smart, earthquake-proof, healthy homes that produce more energy than they consume and are aesthetically pleasing.”Ille constantly invests in research and development, also in collaboration with important external companies in the wood sector, in order to maintain the high level of innovation that characterises its products. Always at the forefront of new developments, the proposed construction system is therefore constantly evolving and updated. As well as wooden private homes and villas in the Green Building sector, the Pieve di Bono-based company also manufactures large wooden buildings and prefabricated public buildings. The company also has extensive experience in the production of prefabricated buildings for building sites, transportable modules, temporary emergency buildings and general carpentry.

Sustainable Living and New TrendsOne of the latest market trends that Ille Haus has started to work on successfully is the luxury modules that are emerging to replace the synthetic huts which have long populated campsites and holiday villages. A new concept of open-air and multi-building hospitality offering increasing quality. Tradition and innovation both help us to live in harmony with the environment. “Yes - says the manager of Ille Haus - our construction system is based onsolid local larch wood, as the master carpenters used to work it in the past, but we also use the most advanced technologies currently available. In general, wooden houses use less land and fit very well into the surrounding landscape.” “What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” This is the question that American writer Henry David Thoreau asked back in the mid-19th century. Ille is answering it with its ecological houses and sustainabilityconscious company management. “We can conclude - says Elia Terzi – that building green houses is an obligation for the future of our planet."