As today closes out the Solar Decathlon of 2013, we look at the changes and evolution Architecture has progressed throughout its entity. When once, what was considered the simplicity of creating a space where one can call home, it has become more complicated and advanced. Where we place a board and call roof to stay dry and safe, now is also the place to collect its source of energy for the dwelling. Instead of just studs and insulation, also contains pipes where water runs throughout the whole unit. As society blames technologies being the cause of greenhouse effect on the world, we witness technologies working to solve the same problem. Twenty teams, two years in the making, schools throughout the world compete to show sustainability along with architecture to the thousands of people that visited the competition.
Under the blazing hot weather, nineteen teams (Tidewater Virginia withdrew from the competition) placed their design side by side in the Great Park of Orange County in Irvine, California. People coming from all over the world, waited in line for each individual team, to tour each unit, and explore each team’s effort to create the most sustainable house. Each team enthusiastically explained their engineered technologies along with planned developed ideas of space to design a net-zero house that one can comfortably live in.
Walking through each team’s homes, we thought of the practicality compared to its innovative design. Though green and sustainable design has been around for decades, it caught momentum in the past few years and has evolved to a major aspect of architectural design today. Still some ways from perfect, we witnessed many teams pushing the limit of modern technologies and even inventing its own along with their engineering partners to find the best way to save energy, and in many cases creating extra energy, to design the best house within the ten competitions ran throughout the two weeks.
At its twelve year, the Solar Decathlon announced its winner for 2013 for Team Austria: Vienna University of Technology. Their house, “LISI” topped the other eighteen competitors in contest of: Architecture, Market Appeal, Engineering, Communications, Affordability, Comfort Zone, Hot Water, Appliances, Home Entertainment, and Energy Balance. With the sun setting down, the “LISI” house sits with its curtains flowing with pride, claiming the winner of Solar Decathlon 2013, as it prepares to set sail back to Austria. Until next year.
Posted by: Ivan Hu
Under the blazing hot weather, nineteen teams (Tidewater Virginia withdrew from the competition) placed their design side by side in the Great Park of Orange County in Irvine, California. People coming from all over the world, waited in line for each individual team, to tour each unit, and explore each team’s effort to create the most sustainable house. Each team enthusiastically explained their engineered technologies along with planned developed ideas of space to design a net-zero house that one can comfortably live in.
Walking through each team’s homes, we thought of the practicality compared to its innovative design. Though green and sustainable design has been around for decades, it caught momentum in the past few years and has evolved to a major aspect of architectural design today. Still some ways from perfect, we witnessed many teams pushing the limit of modern technologies and even inventing its own along with their engineering partners to find the best way to save energy, and in many cases creating extra energy, to design the best house within the ten competitions ran throughout the two weeks.
At its twelve year, the Solar Decathlon announced its winner for 2013 for Team Austria: Vienna University of Technology. Their house, “LISI” topped the other eighteen competitors in contest of: Architecture, Market Appeal, Engineering, Communications, Affordability, Comfort Zone, Hot Water, Appliances, Home Entertainment, and Energy Balance. With the sun setting down, the “LISI” house sits with its curtains flowing with pride, claiming the winner of Solar Decathlon 2013, as it prepares to set sail back to Austria. Until next year.
Posted by: Ivan Hu
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