CanaPuglia, one year later: 2012. Winning the Active Principles project, funded by the Puglia Region, was just the beginning. As well as discovering that with Grace's weed it was possible to make houses, and not just on paper. Even the largest building in Europe in Bisceglie, north of Bari. With biombricks of lime and hemp. Thanks to the foresight of Leo Pedone's architectural studio and the company Equilibrium, which supplied the materials, we were able to create a building of 42 apartments and rooms with high energy and living efficiency. They are called Case di luce and have been the subject of research and graduation theses around the world. The construction solutions with hemp make it possible to achieve high energy savings using natural materials with a low level of gray energy and minimizing the need to heat / cool the building, optimizing its hygrothermal performance. Just the CEO of Equilibrium, Paolo Ronchetti, on the occasion of the event "In.Eco. - Ecosustainable Influences" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5Bf31AdfAw ), organized by Canapuglia and supported by the Region, explained the potential of hemp, a plant with a very high biomass production and strong CO 2 absorption.
In 2011, in fact, I had already visited the first lime and hemp house in San Giovanni in Persiceto, in the Bolognese area. It was designed by the architect Olver Zaccanti, architect of Anab, the national association of bio-ecological architecture. I even fell in love with the scents of the walls. And I knew I had to spread the ideas and share them with someone who had the right spirit of innovation.
Here one of the founding points of CanaPuglia finds space in the green building sector. Because for us, putting professionalism, intentions, passions and dreams into a system has always been a possible and, indeed, achievable goal. Unity is strength, we think so. Networks of entrepreneurs, networks of producers, networks of farmers, networks of environmentalists. In short, not each for himself. Because, and we see it everywhere around us, divisions crumble skills, dry out ideas by shattering and pulverizing them. And it is for this reason that, by uniting their intentions, Pedone Working srl has built an innovative structure, enjoying enormous sales success and developing unique technological features. “Grow your home” is written on the signs planted in the hemp plant garden that crowns the condominium. The first cannabis garden in Italy, nestled in the city. A garden visited three years later even by the US broadcaster CBS News.
In 2014 the project was completed. And those who have invested and chosen to live in houses of light know that they have made the right decision: zero or almost artificial air conditioning, zero humidity. The environment is healthy, it is not toxic, and the energy savings are considerable thanks to the thermal equilibrium of the premises. A bet won, exported, rewarded.
And it was also recognized by the UN, which awarded Pedone Working in 2016, during the World Climate Conference ,. Here, the project won the Energy and Hot Climates category of the Green Building Solution Award 2016 , imposing itself on over one hundred companies from all over the world.