A house that is enough unto itself
Renovating CaRina has an ambitious goal: to make it off-grid. A house disconnected from public networks, able to produce what it consumes and to manage all its own resources with care.
Off-grid means no connection to the power grid, no mains water, no gas. A house that does not rely on external infrastructure to work. In other words: a house that works in a different way.
Water
The roof collects water when it rains. A gutter carries it to an underground cistern, where it is stored and filtered. What is not needed for cooking or washing goes to the vegetable garden.
What leaves the drains passes through a bed of gravel and plants — phytoremediation — and returns to the soil. It is not a new technology. It is how every house worked before mains water arrived.
Land
What grows in the vegetable garden ends up on the table. Organic scraps go to the composter. Compost goes back to the vegetable garden. No waste, no truck hauling away what could stay here.
It is the oldest cycle there is. CaRina is trying to set it in motion again.
Fire
There are two systems on the roof. Solar thermal heats the water: a closed circuit carries heat from the panel to the boiler, with no moving parts and no electricity used.
Photovoltaics generate electricity: the panels produce it during the day, the batteries keep it for the night. The result is not isolation from the world — it is energy supply from local renewable sources.
Air
There is no air system. You do not need one. At CaRina, air comes in through the window — it brings the woods with it, and the people passing by. It is not collected, filtered, or stored. You breathe it. You can take it and carry it away without giving anything in return. And that is perfectly fine.
This approach is not just an ethical choice. It is also — and increasingly — a choice supported by Europe. The LIFE and Horizon Europe programmes, and funds for rural communities and the energy transition, are looking with growing interest at projects like CaRina: small scale, replicable impact, community stewardship, and roots in the territory. No megaprojects, but concrete attempts that others can reproduce.
CaRina is one of these attempts. If you work in this field, get in touch.
Renovating a building
Recovering a building and a measure of vitality in a pre-Alpine community that is losing population.
Light hospitality
Short stays for people who work, research, create, or build something. Up to 12–14 beds. The exchange with those who are here — ideas, skills, time — is part of the experience.
Local economy
Building materials chosen from local and natural supply chains where possible; furnishings often reclaimed; priority to suppliers and craftspeople from the area.
Energy autonomy
Photovoltaics with storage, rainwater harvesting, plant-based water treatment, closed-loop kitchen garden. The end goal is a home that produces what it uses and is not dependent on the grid.