theBusheys.com > Solar Decathlon 2005 > Virginia Tech

Team Website	http://vtsolar.arch.vt.edu/
Key Elements (poster)	http://vtsolar.arch.vt.edu/images/poster/poster-large.jpg

Virginia Tech: This was another one of our favorites. A simple plan, a strong design, and everything well crafted. This house took first prize in the architecture/design contest.

The roof form was influenced by - but not dictated by - the photovoltaics. (The valley of the roof is used for rainwater collection.) The exterior walls are constructed of a translucent wall assembly: a sandwich of two layers of polycarbonate panels filled with aerogel, with an airspace between. The whole thing has an R value of 22. (Carnegie Mellon also used polycarbonate panels, but without the aerogel.) Clear glass clerestory windows above run the length of the house.

This is the floor grate for rainwater collection, set into the cedar deck which surrounds the house. A steel truss underneath the cedar decking folds up to protect the house during transit. A lot of the house designs are driven by the need to transport them across the country on a flatbed truck, but this solution is one of the more innovative ones.

The exterior roof form is evident on the inside. The inside surface is used for ambient light reflection, and clerestory windows run the length of the building.

We noticed that a lot of people at this event are interested in the kitchens. Here, a storage wall runs along the whole length of the house, unifying the whole space.

Here's a good view of the translucent wall assembly. There is a mechoshade inside the wall, which is shown here slightly lowered. There are also lights inside the wall. We would have loved to have seen it at night, but the houses weren't open to the public at night.

At the far end of the storage wall, this mechanical equipment is hidden behind cabinet doors which slide open and tuck away for easy access. Very nice use of Haefele hardware.

The batteries and electrical equipment. Everything's color coded.