About ATRIUM
A specialist practicethat doesn't stop at the certificate.
ATRIUM is a small practice in Lana with one clear brief: to calculate and document the energy quality of a building so that it withstands scrutiny — and actually survives the journey to the construction site.
- Founded
- 2008
- Based in
- Lana, South Tyrol
- We advise in
- DE · IT · EN
Our story
Born from the gap between the calculation and the site
ATRIUM was founded in Lana in 2008, out of years of hands-on experience in construction and a recurring observation: energy calculations were produced, submitted, filed — and often had only a loose connection to what actually happened on site. Between the calculation and the execution lay a gap in which thermal bridges, junction details and plant parameters quietly disappeared.
The timing helped. With the KlimaHaus/CasaClima standard, South Tyrol had taken its own route early and turned energy quality from a voluntary extra into a documented property of a building. Anyone who started then has lived through three generations of regulation, several incentive cycles, and the complete shift from insulation as a side topic to renovation as the core of the business.
The practice has grown slowly on purpose. Instead of broadening, we deepened: numerical thermal bridge calculation, moisture protection, dynamic assessment of summer behaviour, systems simulation. Today we support single-family retrofits with the same care as new hotel builds — because the same physics sits underneath, only at a different scale.
What has not changed: the person who calculates your project also sits at the table with you and the design team, and stands on the scaffolding at the final inspection. That is not a marketing line, it is a consequence of the size of the office.
A calculation is only good once the trades can build from it without calling us — and if they do call, we come out to the site.
Why here
Energy efficiency in alpine building is a special case
A building in South Tyrol may sit anywhere between 200 and 1,800 metres, in valleys with little winter sun and summers that have long become mediterranean. Reference values from flatter regions reliably lead to the wrong system here.
- 01
Climate that changes within kilometres
A few kilometres separate the Adige valley from a high side valley, and a multiple of heating degree days separates their demand. We calculate with the climate data of the site rather than a provincial average, and account for horizon shading, which co-determines solar gain and heating load in winter.
- 02
Existing buildings with history
Rubble stone masonry, timber floors, vaulted cellars, protected village ensembles: in the South Tyrolean building stock the obvious solution is often the wrong one. Internal insulation and moisture behaviour have to be assessed together, or damage appears that only becomes visible years later.
- 03
Summer as a new task
Nights no longer cool down reliably. Summer heat protection — thermal mass, external shading, night ventilation — now belongs in the same calculation as heating demand, not in a later conversation about air conditioning.
How we work
Four principles we can be held to
Our work consists of numbers that other people build on. So it is not only the result that counts, but how it came about and how easily it can be followed.
- 01
Precision instead of flat rates
Thermal bridges are calculated numerically, heating loads room by room, climate data site by site. Flat-rate surcharges hide exactly the errors that cost money later — in operation or in remedial work.
- 02
Independence
We sell no building products and no plant equipment, and we take no commission for referring contractors. Our recommendation on insulation, glazing or heat generator follows from the calculation — and we say so when a measure does not pay for itself.
- 03
Reports you can read
Every set of documentation has two readers: the assessor and the client. You receive the complete, submission-ready evidence — and in front of it, two pages in normal language setting out the decisions that actually have to be made.
- 04
Deadlines that hold
Documentation hangs off building permits, tenders and incentive deadlines. We only take on projects we can complete properly in the agreed window, and we flag delays before they reach your programme.
Expertise
One studio, four areas of responsibility
ATRIUM works as a compact team in which every competence is named and covered. Your project does not travel between departments here — the responsibilities sit in the same room.
Certification & procedures
Energy performance certificates, CasaClima applications, coordination with the agency and the municipality, preparation and support of inspections.
Calculation & simulation
U-values, numerical thermal bridges, heating and cooling loads, dynamic assessments and building services simulation.
Building physics & existing stock
Moisture protection and Glaser assessments, internal insulation in historic buildings, summer heat protection and acoustics.
Incentives & documentation
Tax deductions, provincial subsidies, ENEA filings, deadline tracking and the complete project record.
For structural design, plant engineering, surveying and thermography we work with established partner practices in South Tyrol — coordinated by us, with no extra interface for you.
Location
At home in Lana, at work across South Tyrol
Our office is on Griesplatz in Lana, a few minutes from Merano and well connected to the Adige valley, the Vinschgau and the Burggrafenamt. From here we reach most construction sites in under an hour — which is not a detail but the precondition for inspecting a junction in person instead of judging it from photographs.
Being rooted in the region also means this: we know the officers in the municipal building departments, the procedures of the CasaClima Agency, and the local trades who can build an insulated parapet cleanly. We advise and produce documentation in German, Italian and English — in bilingual South Tyrol not an added service but a basic requirement.
- Most sites reachable within an hour for on-site checks
- Established routines with municipalities and the CasaClima Agency
- Documents and conversations in German, Italian and English
Griesplatz 6/1
39011 Lana (BZ) · South Tyrol
Contact
The best way to get to know us is through an actual building
Tell us about your project — a new build, a renovation, or an open question about documentation and incentives. The first conversation is free, and you will have an initial assessment within two working days.