As part of Waveguide’s commitment to technology design that appreciates cost-effective energy efficiency as well as our commitment to the architecture and design communities where we work, we are thrilled to announce our participation in this year’s Solar Decathlon as an in-kind sponsor to the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture team, Team USC.
“The Solar Decathlon is a biennial competition sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE). It challenges collegiate teams to design, build, and operate 1,000 square foot solar-powered houses that are affordable, energy-efficient, and innovative. The DOE selected 20 collegiate teams to compete in Solar Decathlon 2013. USC is one of four teams selected to represent California. The 2013 competition will be held at the Orange County Great Park in October and it will be the first time that the Decathlon takes place outside of Washington, D.C.Team USC is a collaboration, led by the School of Architecture (SOA) and consisting of students, faculty, and researchers from SOA, Viterbi School of Engineering, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, School of Cinematic Arts, Rossier School of Education, and Marshall School of Business, with the shared goal to design and build an innovative single-family dwelling that serves as a model for sustainable living in Southern California, as well as a viable alternative to the suburban tract house and urban sprawl.
Architecturally, fluxHome™ is motivated by a combination of environmental and economic factors. With a climate that averages 300 days of sun per year, Southern California’s environment is characterized by the distinctive qualities of pervasive sunlight and moderate temperatures, as well as by diversity of its ecologies and microclimates. fluxHome™ celebrates these conditions by reimagining the tract house as an open volume. Instead of a hermetic box on a suburban lot, the house is a thermally-responsive envelope that easily opens and closes according to the weather and time of day, modulating sunlight and air providing various degrees of shade and privacy. fluxHome™ reconceives the typical front lawn, side yard, and backyard as courtyard, veranda, and porch, which are integrated with the primary structure, resulting in a porous envelope that seamlessly merges indoor and outdoor space–the suburban tract house turned inside out.” — USC fluxHome
Read more about the Solar Decathlon and Team USC, follow along on Twitter at @USCSolar13, and then check back here for updates on our progress. Fight on, Trojans!