Solar Decathlon
Oct. 2nd, 2011 10:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fabrisseI went to the Solar Decathlon today. It was the last day, and it was cold and wet. I didn't get to see all the houses -- and Hawaii's entry didn't get here at all -- but the ones I did see were fascinating.
I think the one I liked best was from Middlebury College. All of the houses are specifically designed to be practical in their own latitude. Wherever possible, they also take advantage of local supplies and building techniques. In Middlebury's case, that included slate quarried not too far from their campus. They angled the windows so that at latitude 40, the sun would hit the slate in the kitchen and the bathroom in the winter time, warming the floor, but would miss it in the summer to help keep the interior cooler.
The only house I didn't like was the one entered by China. All the others smelled of wood, but theirs smelled chemical and whatever good design features it may have had were just subsumed in the scent.
The house designed by the Belgians (Universiteit Gent) was a flat pack. The interior looked more unfinished than I would have liked, but, unlike some of the others, it was easy to see how it was put together and how it could be expanded for different family needs.
The CCNY house was intended to go on a rooftop and was very much a city dwelling intended for a maximum of two people. It would be a great first apartment, and, if used as intended, would have tremendous views. They used a great deal of bamboo laminate, which I think made it feel less integrated with its environment. Both of the Florida teams, like Middlebury, used historic design features and adapted local products/resources into the features of the space.
The Parsons School of Design house will stay in DC. It was built with Habitat for Humanity, and they will be adding another unit to it so that it will be a duplex not far from where I work. I wish all or at least most of the houses could work that way. The Team Massachusetts house, which was also very nice, has been sold to a family in Maine.
The house that surprised me the most was the one from OSU. From the model that I saw last year at the National Building Museum and the pictures, I hadn't expected to like it much. The exterior was not at all prepossessing (although the slightly lavender cast to the glass was intriguing), but the interior and the porch area, which included a small pond for stormwater reclamation to be used for grey water areas (like flushing the toilets), were well thought out and absolutely lovely. It was one of only four houses (Middlebury, Parsons, and Florida International's Perform(D)ance being the others) that I could imagine myself living in long term.
I missed three of the big winners because the lines were huge to get into them. I may have a chance to see the one designed by University of Maryland (which won the competition) sometime soon. It's supposed to go back to the campus at some point. It's exterior was really beautiful and it was the only one to plant its green roof. The Appalachian State design won the People's Choice, and I regret that its line was so long because it was one that I thought wasted a great deal of its space in the floor plans, so its winning surprised me.
I think the one I liked best was from Middlebury College. All of the houses are specifically designed to be practical in their own latitude. Wherever possible, they also take advantage of local supplies and building techniques. In Middlebury's case, that included slate quarried not too far from their campus. They angled the windows so that at latitude 40, the sun would hit the slate in the kitchen and the bathroom in the winter time, warming the floor, but would miss it in the summer to help keep the interior cooler.
The only house I didn't like was the one entered by China. All the others smelled of wood, but theirs smelled chemical and whatever good design features it may have had were just subsumed in the scent.
The house designed by the Belgians (Universiteit Gent) was a flat pack. The interior looked more unfinished than I would have liked, but, unlike some of the others, it was easy to see how it was put together and how it could be expanded for different family needs.
The CCNY house was intended to go on a rooftop and was very much a city dwelling intended for a maximum of two people. It would be a great first apartment, and, if used as intended, would have tremendous views. They used a great deal of bamboo laminate, which I think made it feel less integrated with its environment. Both of the Florida teams, like Middlebury, used historic design features and adapted local products/resources into the features of the space.
The Parsons School of Design house will stay in DC. It was built with Habitat for Humanity, and they will be adding another unit to it so that it will be a duplex not far from where I work. I wish all or at least most of the houses could work that way. The Team Massachusetts house, which was also very nice, has been sold to a family in Maine.
The house that surprised me the most was the one from OSU. From the model that I saw last year at the National Building Museum and the pictures, I hadn't expected to like it much. The exterior was not at all prepossessing (although the slightly lavender cast to the glass was intriguing), but the interior and the porch area, which included a small pond for stormwater reclamation to be used for grey water areas (like flushing the toilets), were well thought out and absolutely lovely. It was one of only four houses (Middlebury, Parsons, and Florida International's Perform(D)ance being the others) that I could imagine myself living in long term.
I missed three of the big winners because the lines were huge to get into them. I may have a chance to see the one designed by University of Maryland (which won the competition) sometime soon. It's supposed to go back to the campus at some point. It's exterior was really beautiful and it was the only one to plant its green roof. The Appalachian State design won the People's Choice, and I regret that its line was so long because it was one that I thought wasted a great deal of its space in the floor plans, so its winning surprised me.
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Now that I'm looking at the houses myself...
Date: 2011-10-03 04:11 am (UTC)Oh, I LIKE Canada's. I like that a LOT. I love the roof- it reminds me of a stretched skin curved over the walls. I also really love the rustic yet futuristic feel, as opposed to Florida which was ALL FUTURE ALL THE TIME.
Ooh, yes. I could move into the Middlebury house now. Classic New England styling. I want to put this on a shore in Maine somewhere. And the bits you've described just make me love it more.
Not really a fan of NZ. Too much wood above, making it feel cramped, and the table seems needlessly long. I don't actually like the OSU house. I find the interior boring and I don't get the panels on the outside. It's nice, just kind of boring to me.
Oooh, I like the Parsons house. Then again, I'm also a complete sucker for needlessly huge amounts of storage and the staircase drawers just kill me ded. I think a lot of my problems with the houses I haven't liked is that despite what my house is currently furnished with, I don't like Ikea that much, and all the furniture seems to have come from Ikea. So there needs to be really clever interior hard design going on for me to like it despite boring furniture. I think if I could see blueprints or pictures without furniture I'd like it more.
Oh, Perdue is adorable and so very house-like.
Dear SoCalTech, um....what. Points for creativity, but minus more for sheer wtfery. also, I HATE wet bathrooms.
Belgium...speaking of IKEA...*sigh* I understand what they're going for, but that says "temporary Burning Man shelter" not "raise a family there". Ugh. Come back when it's out of Beta.
China: Hm. I think the open floor plan would grate after a while. otherwise, very 2001-ish with all the white and the openness- at odds with the lovely wooden pavilion-esque exterior. Sadface.
Team Florida: Boring, but nice. I like the wooden floor and the slatting.
MA: Again, a lovely New England-styled house. Love the exposed rafters. Wish it didn't look so much like a nice house that got eaten by a solar-panel-spider, though.
NJ: Erk. It's a solar shotgun shack. No flow, with that corridor cutting everything into bits.
CCNY: I'd say this is more a "luxury in-law apartment for someone with way too much money". It doesn't really say "first apartment" to me- it's too nice, and on a rooftop? Though taken out of context, it is very pretty and elegant.
Oh, I kind of also love the Tidewater house. They've obviously made an effort to retain a definite house-iness to it, and the columns are utterly charming.
UIUC: Another take on the "Box with wings" concept, brought to you by IKEA. Nice thing with the divider and the lights in the wall, but otherwise boring.
Maryland: I don't really see why this won. To me, it's another box with wings, but the slanting up and the exposed beams are nice. Maybe it works better in person? The trellis is very nice, though.
TN: Box with wings. Yawn. Dark box with wings, even. I appreciate the attempt at contrast, but...meh.
Verdict: I am picky and I like houses that look like houses.
Re: Now that I'm looking at the houses myself...
Date: 2011-10-03 02:28 pm (UTC)The spider effect of the Massachusetts' one is lessened by going through it. The effect is much more like a front porch, and it helped to know that the design was done that way to promote snow melting as quickly as possible in the winter and to keep the panels cooler and more efficient in the summer.
I wish Belgium's had been more finished on the inside -- as you say, come back when it's out of beta -- because it was the one that felt like it had the most potential.
The more I think about it, the more I could see living in the Middlebury and Florida International Houses. They just felt like nice spaces -- the fact that they were Net Zero energy was whipped cream and a cherry. *G*