Architecture competition, organised around solar energy

ENSAG students called upon technical expertise of the CSTB in Grenoble.  The prototype house imagined by the ENSAG-INES-GAIA group (named “Armadillo Box” with reference to the protective carapace of the tattoo) is based on a twofold constraint, namely the need to be energy-independent but also to use low cost materials. "The Solar Decathlon is targeted on energy. Nevertheless, we reminded students that energy is not the only target for building softly integrated in the local ecosystem. Building as a cosy living space must also satisfy lighting, acoustic and air quality requirements” says Daniel Quénard, CSTB engineer.  Therefore, we also discussed questions of insulation, air tightness, glazing (for solar inputs), inertia and solar protection."   Daniel Quénard suggested that students should use a" core-skin-shell construction principle in which different layers of the home are separated, in order to tackle the “surface paradox”: compactness to reduce heat losses and large surfaces to collect resources (solar energy, water, air, etc.), while managing their intermittent nature by an "energy treasury" (thermal inertia, storage, etc.).  Since the Solar Decathlon Europe specification plans to extend the energy theme to include the environment, CSTB will also propose an environmental project analysis using ELODIE, software for evaluation of the environmental impact of construction products.