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Solar Decathlon Europe: The Latest Architecture and News

Techstyle Haus: An 800 Square Foot Fabric House That Uses 90% Less Energy

The Rhode Island School Of Design, Brown University and the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, Germany collaborated on a passive "fabric" house for the 2014 Solar Decathlon Europe (which just wrapped up this month - see the winners here). In the following article, originally published on Metropolis Magazine, Martin Pedersen reviews the remarkable house.

This summer’s 2014 Solar Decathlon Europe is well underway in France, where a solar-powered village of twenty sustainable homes designed and built by college students from all over the country, has emerged on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles. Students from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Brown University, and the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt, Germany, have teamed up for Techstyle Haus, an 800-square-foot house that’s not only a model of energy efficiency but an elegant piece of design as well.

Solar Decathlon Europe Announces Winners of its 2014 Contest

On Saturday night, the awards were announced in the 2014 Solar Decathlon Europe, which is currently ongoing in the grounds of the Versailles Palace in France. The competition challenges university teams to build and run a full scale solar powered house, with awards being judged on a range of requirements including sustainability factors, architecture and comfort, with a different jury of three experts judging each requirement.

The overall winner, based on a combination of all the factors, was "Rhome for Dencity", by the team from Roma Tre University, with a proposal that seeks to "re-densify and re-qualify the boundaries of Rome" by applying principles of density and sustainability to this area where "housing, country, archaeology and illegal buildings are interwoven."

Read on after the break for images of all the winners