On October 15, 2025, the HeriTACE and FuturHist projects hosted the first episode of the webinar series “Future-Proofing Historic Buildings for the Clean Energy Transition: Dialogues with FuturHist & HeriTACE.” The session brought together 75 participants, including architects, designers, researchers, and energy retrofit specialists from both EU and non-EU countries.
The first part of the session introduced the challenges and potential solutions for retrofitting historic buildings. Participants identified several key issues: the need for professional upskilling, financial constraints, bureaucratic barriers, and the lack of specialized knowledge.
Among the possible solutions, it was introduced the typology-based approach to retrofitting, which formed the core theme of this session.Elena Poma (EURAC Research) explained how typologies can link tailored retrofit solutions to real buildings, reversing the traditional case-specific approach that starts from individual buildings and works toward custom solutions. She also presented the FuturHist Building Typologies and the criteria used to define them.
Alessia Buda (Politecnico di Milano) introduced the archetype approach developed within the HeriTACE project, emphasising the crucial role of cultural heritage analysis and value assessment. This process helps raise awareness of the cultural and historical significance of buildings and neighborhoods, while supporting the identification of the most suitable retrofit strategies.
To conclude the session, project coordinators Eline Himpe (UGent) and Daniel Herrera (EURAC Research) provided an overview of the innovative solutions being developed within both projects, highlighting their similarities and differences—and offering a glimpse of what’s to come in future episodes.
Missed our webinar? Find the recordings on our YouTube Channel and don’t forget to subscribe!
HeriTACE, in collaboration with the project sister FuturHist, will contribute as a side event to the European Week of Regions and Cities 2025 with the session
On May 15th, Alessia Buda—architect, PhD, and research fellow at Politecnico di Milano—participated in the Salone Internazionale del Restauro 2025 to present the HeriTACE project.