Green Luxury
Luxury and environment are Borgo Lucia’s fundamental principles
Very often it is difficult to associate the concept of luxury to the environmental sustainability one. This was for sure one of the biggest challenges in creating Borgo Lucia, a structure characterised by a new concept of sustainable luxury, where ancient, modern and environment merge to create something unique.
Considering the surrounding environment with its historical and cultural heritage, we have tried to recover as much as possible, through an important restoration of the structure, aimed at enhancing both the existing architecture, dominated by the trulli (UNESCO heritage), sia l’ambiente circostante caratterizzato da una folta pineta secolare.
Even if it would have been easier to build new buildings, we preferred to upgrade some disused areas, such as existing warehouses and storages, in order to avoid the consumption of soil. It was possible to recover: the old garages, in which there is currently the reception, as well as the old warehouses, that are now dedicated to the technical rooms.
The intervention was not limited to the recovery of the existing areas. Indeed, the project was centred on consumption’s sustainability, both in its realization and in the daily management of indoor and outdoor spaces.
Borgo Lucia’s air conditioning is the most interesting and original aspect: the peculiarity and uniqueness of the trulli is, in fact, to keep the rooms very fresh, making the use of air conditioners almost useless. They will be used almost exclusively to heat the rooms in the winter periods.
Inside the apartments, particular attention was given to safeguarding environmental sustainability, both in the water/electrical systems and in the choice of furnishings. Electric and induction cooking systems are used in the kitchens, eliminating the use of gas fires.
The bedrooms are all characterised by natural elements which were carefully selected, such as wood, wrought iron and ceramics, avoiding plastic.
The realization of the bathrooms was the great challenge concerning sustainability; indeed, the presence of the hot tub led to the installation of 80 litre electric boilers with high energy efficiency, to heat water in every apartment.
Another peculiarity that makes Borgo Lucia a structure extremely attentive and sensitive to the concept of environmental sustainability, is undoubtedly the restoration work made on the outdoor areas. Due to a long period of inactivity of the structure, which lasted about 16 years, the gardeners worked for about 2 months to clean all the outdoor spaces, create relaxation areas, plant new vegetation and prune all the century-old pines.
Among the many interventions, the most delicate was the construction of a small perimeter wall contemporary with the removal of an old railing, which was used as a support to a large trellis of white roses, very dear to grandma Lucia, who inspired the realization of the ‘Borgo’.
