In the marginal areas of the Alps, there is a huge built heritage expressed by local
communities, resulting in an architectural model that is sustainable in terms of its material use,
resource exploitation, and landscape coherence. Although buildings in these small settlements have
been largely protected from transformation, currently this heritage is largely underused. Thus, it is
desirable to consider reuse and enhancement actions that can combine both economic viability and
the protection of historic, cultural and architectural values. This paper presents a multi-attribute
model for the evaluation of sustainability in reuse projects concerning traditional buildings in the
Italian Alpine settlements. For the appraisal of sustainability, the model uses relevant parameters
aggregated into three macro-indicators. The model was calibrated by an expert panel and tested on
reuse projects in Sauris, in north-eastern Italy, where residential building type is characterized by
specific techniques that are expressions of community traditions. The main results show that the
attributes aggregation function is predominantly andness in all nodes. A short range in sustainability
assessment is a predictable result, as the buildings used for the model’s application give a common
judgment in some attributes. Finally, activities for widespread hospitality generate a greater expected
return compared to commercial services.
