The solar house of ČVUT students finished third in the competition in the USA

Los Angeles - The project of the energy-efficient AIR House by students of the Czech Technical University in Prague (ČVUT) finished in third place at the international Solar Decathlon competition held in California. In the Architecture category, which is one of the subcategories of the competition, the jury rated their project as the best. This is evident from the results published today on the event organizers' website. The overall winner of this year's edition was the team from the Technical University of Vienna with their LISI house project.
    The Solar Decathlon, which is backed by the U.S. Department of Energy, has been held every two years since 2002. University teams are tasked with designing and building energy-efficient houses that rely solely on solar radiation for energy.
    As part of the architectural section, one of the ten disciplines of the competition, the jury focused not only on architectural elements and lighting methods or the use of natural light but also on how inspiring the project might be for visitors, as well as the documentation of the project. The Czech Republic received 98 points out of a possible 100 in this discipline. In the Technology category, where the jury evaluated the functionality of the proposed technologies, the Czech team finished in second place.
    "Winning in Architecture is a great satisfaction for our team. It is a discipline that mattered to us, and in which we had strong competition," the project authors stated on their website. According to the jury, as quoted, the architecture of the AIR House is "a unique and beautiful experience" while being "simple and clean."
    The ČVUT student team submitted their application to the competition at the end of 2011. From their acceptance into the competition, they had two years to design, build, test, then dismantle the experimental house, transport it to the competition's final location, and reconstruct it there over nine days, as stated on their website.
    The students conceived the project as a house for a household of two people in their prime working years. They designed the building as a cottage that, according to them, could serve as a fully functional permanent residence in retirement.
    The winning team, which best combined maximum energy efficiency, affordability, and market appeal, was a group of students from Vienna, whose project excelled in the Water Heating, Communication, and Energy Balance disciplines. Second place went to students from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.