Solar Decathlon 2017: Team reACT

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/24707

The 2017 Team Maryland developed reACT—short for Resilient Adaptive Climate Technology— demonstrating that homes can help people live in harmony with nature while at the same time harnessing her gifts of solar energy, water, and food. Designed with influences from Nanticoke and Maryland (Delmarva) tribal traditions, reACT includes a composting system, hydroponic garden, vegetable garden, and movable “living walls” covered in plants. The project also demonstrates urban farming—an important facet of self-sufficient living.

The Maryland team invites you to think of reACT as a living organism, with six modules performing vital functions. Systems that capture and process waste, water, and energy allow the house to operate with complete self-sufficiency, and the house’s living systems are fully disentangled from structure, so the house can adapt as occupants’ needs change—for example, by adding a new bedroom module. Much more than a “one-off,” reACT is intended to serve as a seminal prototype for a "house as a kit of parts" design concept. This kit consists of separate components and systems parts that can be efficiently manufactured, transported, assembled, and disassembled. The intention is to create a home-building kit that can be readily adapted to a range of clients, communities, construction technologies, and ecological environments.

Features and Technologies:

  • A mechanical core manages the flow of water, air, and energy.
  • A central courtyard with an operable glass roof and wall panels extends the living space and acts as a solar heat collector.
  • The house demonstrates urban and ancestral Native American farming with a hydroponic garden, exterior vegetable garden, and movable living walls.
  • A barrel composter turns food scraps into nutrients, and a composting toilet processes human waste.
  • A solar electric PV array with battery storage; rainwater and greywater collection and treatment systems; and a composting toilet allow the house to operate independently.
  • Designed with influences from Nanticoke and Maryland tribal traditions, the house incorporates materials that consider tribal environmental ethics.
  • An automated SmartHouse data collection and control system package enables residents to follow and learn from the data it collects and use energy wisely.

Browse

Author: search.filters.author.Adomaitis, Raymond ASubject: search.filters.subject.climate technology

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Solar Decathlon 2017 D-2: Schematic Design Summary
    (2016-04-29) Team reACT; Rockcastle, Garth C; Binder, Michael P; Adomaitis, Raymond A
    Mission Statement; Detailed strategy for winning the competition including a contest-by-contest breakdown; Design drawings and/or written description of the following systems and components, with identification of any unique systems and components that are being considered; Summary of potential innovations and non-standard elements being pursued; Description of public exhibit, communications, and outreach strategy; Computer-generated renderings of competition prototype design; Health and Safety Plan outline including approach to meeting OSHA training requirement; Identification of the licensed design professional expected to stamp structural documentation
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Solar Decathlon 2017 D-8: Engineering Narrative
    (2017-08-10) Team reACT; Adomaitis, Raymond A; Dhumane, Rohit; Andros, Whitney Paige; Hwang, Yunho; Quinn, Bryan
    Engineering design and implementation, including Team approach to employing multidisciplinary collaboration and use the energy modeling and analysis to guide design decisions; Design performance of systems and structures, occupant comfort, proportional size for annual performance targets; Energy Efficiency. Long-term issues such as longevity, lifecycle costs, maintenance, and owner operation are addressed as well as how the building envelope design and materials manage potential issues from moisture, condensation, and mold. Includes complete engineering drawings and specifications and the Energy Modelling report.