The reduction of energy consumption in buildings recently became tighter and tighter, as well as the need of shortening the building materials' supply chain. Hence, there is a growing interest in sustainable materials, able to reduce peak energy demand, also mitigating climate change and improving indoor comfort. Indeed, it is also fundamental to design buildings able to sustain their occupants during emergencies modulating and adapting their features to a changing climate, to different boundary conditions and to the progressive loss of biodiversity. It is therefore possible, by applying a wider approach, to conceive resilience as a correlated factor to sustainable design. In this regard, the main goal of the paper is to analyze traditional and innovative building materials, highlighting their key-features in terms of environmental costs, energy efficiency and adaptive capabilities. Starting from the specific definition of resilience, the present work analyzes its own application on buildings, while looking at a wider range of tasks. This, also highlighting the four main pillars of resilience in terms of its “4-Rs" (i.e. robustness, resourcefulness, rapid recovery, redundancy) and picking out the relevant connection with the consolidated “3-Rs" of sustainability ( i.e. reduce, reuse, recycle).