The Shimmering Village

Reflections from the 2011 Solar Decathlon

By Andrew Caruso, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP

Shimmering in the sunlight of West Potomac Park, a village takes shape. Amidst the hum of cranes and the clang of construction, eager faces of students and faculty nervously watch the 2011 Solar Decathlon come to life. This year marks the fifth occurrence of the biennial event, a program of the U.S. Department of Energy. It challenges collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses. Nineteen teams of decathletes have spent two years preparing for this event—a live competition where their solar houses are run through a battery of tests—proving the affordability, efficiency, and viability of solar home technologies.

For students, the Solar Decathlon is a rare opportunity to get hands-on construction and client skills as part of their formalized education. Many cite their experience with this competition as the singular bridge between their important yet largely theoretical educational underpinnings and the complexity of contemporary practice.

“When we built our house the first time in New Zealand,” said Ben Jagersma, a Victoria University graduate, “it was a pretty exciting moment for me. Being in a project that you’ve taken through the design process and now it’s a building… for us it was the first opportunity ever to do this. I think the practical experience—dealing with professionals, consultants, builders—and solving problems on-site is a side of architecture that you don’t really get to experience at university.”

University of Maryland team members pose in front of their entry, WaterShed. They went on to win first place in the 2011 Solar Decathlon.

Photo by Andrew Caruso

By the time their house “First Light” is installed back in New Zealand, the team will have constructed or deconstructed the entire house a minimum of eight times.

With qualitative criteria, such as architecture and market appeal evaluations, and quantitative measures, such as energy balance and affordability competitions, it is a fierce race to the top of the 1,000-point scoreboard. Each house jockeys for tenths of a point as they compete with some of the smartest minds in building design, construction, and engineering from across the country and, increasingly, around the world. In fact, international teams were invited to join the decathlon again this year, traveling from Belgium, China, Canada, and New Zealand.

Industry scouts were also on hand throughout the competition, darting from house to house in search of the next big idea to bring to market. In fact, these university teams not only do a great deal of learning, but they also do a great deal of inventing. From the liquid-desiccant conditioning system at the University of Maryland to sheep wool insulation from New Zealand, material uses, furniture design, solar and water collection, and other technological breakthroughs are budding from every porch.

The Solar Decathlon underscores many fundamental truths about the future of the building industry: among them, the power of innovation, the need to focus on sustainable models of development, and the importance of creating hands-on learning opportunities for future professionals. While the competition makes a powerful statement for the role of solar energy and building technologies, the environment is not the only beneficiary of this year’s event.

Faculty members recognize the importance of the Solar Decathlon for challenging traditional architecture and engineering pedagogy, as well.

“A lot of the learning and teaching was around understanding how to work together with other disciplines. When you come together to build a building, you have to work together. Dealing with relationships is a big part of taking something from paper into real life, and the Solar Decathlon really gives our students that experience,” recounts Justin Kramer, a mechanical engineering faculty member with Florida State University (Team Florida). “This takes teaching to the next level, not only hands-on but how to collaborate. It helps us to push our students to do projects like this. To feel that there will be failures and problems, but to stick it through and realize that a project on paper isn’t everything.”

Harnessed to the roof for safety, a member of Team Florida’s FLEXhouse carefully cleans the solar array.

Photo by Andrew Caruso

With each Solar Decathlon, it is clear that the bar is raised for future competitions. Of particular interest is the growing sophistication with which teams approach the “client” aspect of their homes. One of this year’s most poignant examples of client service was Team Canada’s TRTL house, uniquely designed for the culture of Treaty 7 Native Peoples in Southern Alberta. Its architectural form responds to the culture’s traditions while addressing challenges of the tribe’s existing housing stock. TRTL is built to have a 75-100-year lifespan, unlike the 7-10-year lifespan of the tribe’s existing homes. In addition, it specifically incorporates non-permanent foundations, since legal restrictions prevent tribal ownership of permanent structures. Throughout the process, each of these decisions was carefully made through a growing relationship with local tribe representatives and an official tribe advisory council in Washington, D.C.

When asked about working with Southern Alberta’s aboriginal people, Johann Kyser, Team Canada’s Aboriginal Relations Manager responded, “It’s been an incredible part of the project. It’s not like a conventional client/designer relationship. It’s much more of a partnership. If you really want to solve these kinds of problems, you need to bring them in as a meaningful partner… The house really had to be a reflection of their identity, not a projection of what we thought their identity was.”

In fact, a number of entries this year have been constructed in partnership with real-life clients, ranging from Habitat for Humanity to potential disaster relief victims. This growing trend of partnerships focuses the teams’ design energies not only on the potential of solar energy, but also on the empowerment of alternative technologies to solve real-world problems for fellow citizens. Everybody wins.

Since its inception, the Solar Decathlon has challenged 92 collegiate teams to imagine the power of the sun in service to contemporary living around the world. It has spurred similar events in Europe and China. It hosts hundreds of thousands of public visits each time it is held, educating and inspiring visitors on the opportunities of alternative building and energy technologies. It is in this spirit that all teams leave with the satisfaction of moving the industry one step closer to a more sustainable pattern of dwelling in the landscape.

For more information on the Solar Decathlon, or to view the 2011 winners, please visit www.solardecathlon.gov

Get National Building Museum news.