Fibrous materials are among those most used for the thermal and acoustic insulation of building envelopes and are also suitable for a wide range of applications. In building construction, the demand for products with low environmental impact — in line with the Green Deal challenge of the European Community — is growing, but the building market is still mostly oriented towards traditional products, missing the many opportunities for using waste materials from existing industrial production. The paper presents the experimental results of new thermal and acoustic insulation products for building construction and interior design, based on previous experiences of the research group. They are produced entirely using waste sheep’s wool as a “matrix” and other waste fibres as “fillers”. The materials proposed originate from textile and agri-industrial chains in the Piedmont region and have no uses other than waste-to-heat biomass. The panels have characteristics of rigidity, workability, and thermal conductivity that make them suitable for building envelope insulation.

From 10 to 26 February 2006 Turin hosted the XX Olympic Winter Games. The building process of all the necessary infrastructure has been characterized, since the design phase, by exceptional measures for quality control and for environmental protection. The settlement of the "Olympic District" in Turin, in the Lingotto area has represented, since the beginning, an opportunity for the re-develop of an historical urban area. Ten years after the event, the Olympic Village area is in a state of strong urban decay, at the building and the social level. The re-conversion had a negative result. The contribution identifies the critical points that brought the project so far away from the original aims, despite the innovative methods of control and management of the process.