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.

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    Solar Decathlon 2017 D-4: 90% Complete Design Drawings
    (2016-11-17) Team reACT; Johnson-Williams, Malik; Oh Boun, Sandra; Elmahadi, Alla; Rockcastle, Garth C; Binder, Michael P
    90% complete construction documentation: General, including solar envelope compliance, accessible tour route, finished square footage, water delivery and removal compliance information, and constructed footprint calculations. Site, including temporary footing locations, ground penetrations, and adjustable footings. Landscape, including plantings, containers, and watering methodology. Structural, including building, decking, and associated structures. Architectural, including dimensioned floorplans, building sections, detailed sections, reflected ceiling plans, roof plans, elevations, window and door schedules, and exterior structures. Interiors, including finishes, furniture layout, and cabinetry. Fire Protection, including sprinklers and required detection systems. Plumbing, including layout, schedules, and diagrams. Mechanical, including layout, schedules, diagrams, and installation requirements. Electrical, including AC and DC layout, 1-line diagrams, 3-line diagrams, and sizing calculations. Telecommunications, including instrumentation, wiring, and associated elements. Operations, including house transportation, assembly methodology, and staging.
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    Solar Decathlon 2017 D-8: As-built specifications
    (2017-08-10) Team reACT; Andros, Whitney Paige; Elmahadi, Alla; Binder, Michael P
    As-built specifications including construction specifications with sufficient detail for a residential general contractor to build without additional input from the team.
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    Solar Decathlon 2017 D-8: Complete Cost Analysis
    (2017-08-10) Team reACT; Andros, Whitney Paige; Rockcastle, Garth C; Binder, Michael P
    The complete cost estimate is included. The estimate’s appropriateness, professionalism, and level of completion is reviewed by a professional cost estimator. This is the exact estimated construction cost the cost-effectiveness with regard to meeting team and design goals.
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    Solar Decathlon 2017 D-7: Construction Sequence Animation
    (2017-04-27) Team reACT; Goldstein, Gregory; Rockcastle, Garth C
    Animation of how the house was constructed and moved to the exhibition site in Denver, Colorado. The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017 teams must develop and implement communications strategies to engage their local communities, provide free tours to visitors during the event in Denver, and make an impact across the world through their digital presence and media outreach.
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    Solar Decathlon 2017 D-7: Construction Photography
    (2017-04-27) Team reACT; Habib, Sophie; Machado, Christiane; Schrantz, Emma; Binder, Michael P
    Photographic documentation of the construction process, still images. The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017 teams must develop and implement communications strategies to engage their local communities, provide free tours to visitors during the event in Denver, and make an impact across the world through their digital presence and media outreach.
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    Solar Decathlon 2017 D-6: Environment, Health & Safety Plan (EHSP)
    (2017-02-23) Team reACT; Habib, Sophie; Binder, Michael P; Rockcastle, Garth C
    Identifies the following elements: Risk minimization, address major hazards that may be encountered during assembly and disassembly activities on the competition site, injury prevention to team and crew members, volunteers, subcontractors, organizers, and the public, identify areas of high risk and include descriptions in necessary level of detail to ensure the health and safety of all site personnel, compliance with applicable regulations and the roles and responsibilities for the Team’s core supervisory personnel (Project Manager, Construction Manager and Health and Safety Officer(s)) during competition.
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    Solar Decathlon 2017 D-6: reACT Final Construction Drawings
    (2017-02-23) Team reACT; Oh Boun, Sandra; Johnson-Williams, Malik; Rockcastle, Garth C; Adomaitis, Raymond A
    100% complete construction documentation, with sufficient detail for a contractor to build the competition prototype house as it is expected to appear on the competition site. The documentation shall include complete and final design details, house system specifications, and construction.