The
University of Virginia’s award-winning solar house,
which competed in the 2002 Solar Decathlon competition in
Washington, D.C., is being donated to Piedmont
Housing Alliance, a Charlottesville non-profit housing
organization. PHA will eventually sell the house to raise
funds for their low-income housing programs.
The solar-powered house uses sophisticated renewable energy
systems, and integrates building materials that maximize
energy efficiency, while minimizing the impact to the environment.
The house was designed and built by U.Va. students and was
moved temporarily to the National Mall in Washington for
the Department of Energy-sponsored decathlon event in September
2002. The house won 1st place for architecture in the first-ever
national competition, and 2nd place overall. Students from
the School of Architecture and the School of Engineering
and Applied Science made up the team on the experimental
house.
Assistant Professor John
Quale of the School of Architecture and Professor Paxton
Marshall of the School of Engineering and Applied Science
advised the U.Va. Solar Decathlon team over the course of
the two-year project. Former engineering research scientist
Dan Pearce also advised the group.
"We have been searching for the right place for the
Solar Decathlon house since the competition, and this is
the best possible situation. It allows the University to
show its support for the important work of PHA, while making
sure the house will eventually have a permanent home,"
Quale said.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to continue
our successful partnership with the U.Va. School of Architecture.
The Solar House donation symbolizes our mutual values in
harvesting new technologies that produce sustainable building
models for the future,” said Stu Armstrong, executive
director of Piedmont Housing Alliance.
Details of the sale of the house by PHA have not been determined,
but it is likely the sale will occur during the late spring
or summer. PHA will seek potential buyers interested in
using the house as intended – as a small home or guest
house. The 750 square-foot home includes a living room,
dining area, kitchenette, home office space, bathroom, bedroom
and sunspace. The eventual owner will be required to move
the home to its final location, using the services of a
house-moving firm.
Currently, the School of Architecture is partnering with
PHA on a new project to create low income, sustainable houses
for the Charlottesville area. Called ecoMOD, the multi-year
research and design / build project is focused on the creation
of ecological and modular house prototypes. The first ecoMOD
house will be built off-site this summer by students as
separate modules, and assembled on a permanent site in the
Charlottesville Fifeville neighborhood. Quale founded and
directs the ecoMOD project.
Contact: Jane Ford, (434) 924-4298
