| Fab Lab House By IAAC | |
The solar-powered Fab Lab House produces more energy than it consumes and has come to Madrid to participate in the sustainable architecture competition: Solar Decathlon.
The dwelling, presented by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), makes it possible to generate energy. The designers have applied currently unused technologies in order to test them for use in the near future. Vicente Guallart, Director of the IAAC, explains that ‘the objective is to foster self-sufficient buildings. In order to construct this dwelling, we used state-of-the-art digital manufacturing machine tools. We printed the house, we didn’t build it.’
The building consists of 26-m3 white pine timber parts cut digitally with lasers and assembled to produce curved and undulating forms. This organic design is conceived to create a flexible ‘parametrical’ structure adaptable to the climate of different countries and respectful towards the site and immediate surroundings. The foundations of the house raise the floor structure above ground, creating a kitchen-garden area for the occupiers to grow vegetables.
‘The form of the house responds to its energy production potential. While in the 20th century, form followed function, in the 21st, form will follow energy. Buildings must be self-sufficient,’ says Guallart. The prototype creates an indoor habitable surface area of 70 m2. The space is arranged like a loft, and can accommodate a family of four. Energy is captured thanks to a roof composed of flexible photovoltaic panels that may be moulded into a wide variety of shapes. The house has the capacity to generate 15 kilowatts, which means that the end-of-year balance will invariably be positive, as it will feed excess energy back into the network, and receive energy from the network when the climatic conditions make it impossible to produce its own.
The dwelling, presented by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), makes it possible to generate energy. The designers have applied currently unused technologies in order to test them for use in the near future. Vicente Guallart, Director of the IAAC, explains that ‘the objective is to foster self-sufficient buildings. In order to construct this dwelling, we used state-of-the-art digital manufacturing machine tools. We printed the house, we didn’t build it.’
The building consists of 26-m3 white pine timber parts cut digitally with lasers and assembled to produce curved and undulating forms. This organic design is conceived to create a flexible ‘parametrical’ structure adaptable to the climate of different countries and respectful towards the site and immediate surroundings. The foundations of the house raise the floor structure above ground, creating a kitchen-garden area for the occupiers to grow vegetables.
‘The form of the house responds to its energy production potential. While in the 20th century, form followed function, in the 21st, form will follow energy. Buildings must be self-sufficient,’ says Guallart. The prototype creates an indoor habitable surface area of 70 m2. The space is arranged like a loft, and can accommodate a family of four. Energy is captured thanks to a roof composed of flexible photovoltaic panels that may be moulded into a wide variety of shapes. The house has the capacity to generate 15 kilowatts, which means that the end-of-year balance will invariably be positive, as it will feed excess energy back into the network, and receive energy from the network when the climatic conditions make it impossible to produce its own.
www.iaac.net | Posted by Tracey Ingram in FRAME MAGAZINE | Photos courtesy of IAAC
