LOCAL+
The Competition: Solar Decathlon Europe 2021/22
The Solar Decathlon Europe 21/22 was an international and interdisciplinary university competition for architecture students. The aim was to use innovative ideas and sustainable planning to create pioneering designs for climate-neutral housing construction. For the first time in 2021/22, the focus was not only on the buildings, but also on the urban context. The competition was divided into two phases: the Design Challenge and the Building Challenge. The aim of the Design Challenge was to plan a complete residential building and thus close a gap in the building stock. The planning was carried out from the financial to the constructive elaboration. In the Building Challenge, a demonstration building of the Design Challenge was erected in summer 2022 that was as true to detail as possible.
18 teams from eleven countries each designed and constructed a building to compete against each other in ten disciplines in June 2022. The German city of Wuppertal was chosen as the venue for the first time. On the grounds of the Solar Campus directly on the Nordbahntrasse, the teams presented a representative part of their design to visitors as a true-to-scale (1:1) demonstration system. Some of these enclosures, including the FH Aachen building, remained on the site as part of the "Living lab nrw" to promote research and training in the field of sustainable and climate-neutral construction and energy-efficient supply.
Result
In the end, the LOCAL+ team achieved a good 5th place. A first place ("urban mobility") and several second places (e.g. "solar award") were also achieved in sub-disciplines.
The disciplines
- architecture
- Building technology and building physics
- Energy performance
- Realisability and socio-economic context
- Communication and education
- Sustainability
- Comfort
- Functionality
- Urban mobility
- Innovation
The team
"LOCAL+ is more than just living - we bring movement into your life!" The FH Aachen team entered the competition with this vision. In the interests of the common good, the aim was to create mobility in the neighbourhood as well as movement in small spaces. Under the direction of Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Wollenweber, more than 20 architecture students took part in the decathlon. They were accompanied by Research Assistants, professors, fellow students from other faculties and the Solar Institute Jülich.
The name LOCAL+ stands for "Low Carbon Lifecycle", with the suffix "+" symbolising the larger context, which not only encompasses materials and building style, but also aims to consider and design living models and concepts holistically.
Design Challenge
Goals
- Promotion of the community and neighbourhood
- Creating living space for people living alone
- Innovative and flexible floor plan
- Construction of a sustainable building in terms of construction, energy & resource utilisation
The concept
- Shared apartment for 12 residents
- 4 residential and 2 communal floors
- Net living area approx. 410m² (+ garden approx. 100m²)
- Room-in-room concept
- Façade with green and PV elements
- Modular construction in solid wood construction
The LOCAL+ concept follows two principles: promoting social interaction and making a positive contribution to the planet.
To promote social interaction, LOCAL+ has developed a living concept for (temporarily) single people who want to be part of a community and enjoy new experiences. The entire house serves as a large residential community for the residents, with the basement, ground floor and garden serving as communal areas. The garden offers space for urban gardening, relaxing in the sun and chatting with friends.
Floors one to four serve as small shared flats. The flats have a very unique design: instead of ordinary rooms, the CUBE was developed. The CUBE is a small, mobile and barrier-free space within the flat. It is fully equipped with everything a resident needs for their personal life. It contains a wardrobe, a bed and a desk. Additional furniture can be added from the outside. But more importantly, the CUBEs are fully mobile. This means that the floor plan can be adapted by the residents according to their daily needs. Each flat is equipped with three CUBEs. In addition, each flat has a barrier-free bathroom and a pantry kitchen. The top floor is suitable as private storage space.
In addition to social interaction, the aim of LOCAL+ is to create a building that integrates new energy and sustainability concepts in an innovative and intelligent way. With a skilful combination of different concepts for generating, storing and using energy, two thirds of the building's energy requirements can be covered. In this way, the goal of reducing the CO2 footprint and planning and building in a resource-saving manner can be achieved.
Building Challenge
The Building Challenge or House Demonstration Unit (HDU) will be built on the Solar Campus in Wuppertal in June 2022. The HDU is a smaller but as representative as possible building of the Design Challenge. The 2-storey, stand-alone building will be erected by the students themselves on the competition site. The ground floor represents the basement and ground floor, as well as the Design Challenge garden. The urban mobility concept is also represented on a small scale in the outdoor space. The residential floors of the DC will be located on the first floor of the HDU.
