A Model Green Home in a Model Green Community
UT Architecture/Engineering Students, Faculty Building Solar-Powered Home Prototype at Mueller for International Competition.
Austin, TX (PRWEB) July 10, 2007 -- UT's relationship with Mueller just got sunnier. In addition to the University of Texas System building its Dell Pediatrics Research Institute at Mueller, the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture's UTsolarD design/build collaborative is constructing a completely solar-powered home in an empty hangar at the former municipal airport.
"Having a large open space near UT to build our home prototype is an incredible contribution to our team, but being on the site of a project that is actively employing Green Building features into every aspect of the community is truly inspiring," said team construction manager and Masters of Architecture candidate Ami Mehta.
More than 25 UT architecture and engineering students and faculty plus a number of industry partners are building "BLOOMhouse," a unique, sustainable and green-built home to enter into the 2007 Solar Decathlon, a U.S. Department of Energy competition taking place October 12-20, 2007 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Twenty teams from around the globe will compete based on 10 criteria: architecture, engineering, market viability, communications, comfort, appliances, hot water, lighting, energy balance and getting around, in which teams must demonstrate their homes can power an electric car.
Design principles for the UT entry include natural ventilation, sunlight and rainwater harvesting, regional and durable building materials, graceful aging and a fun, energy-efficient lifestyle for the homeowner. The UTsolarD team estimates the construction cost for the competition home at $350,000, but is designing a marketable prototype at an estimated cost of $223,000.
"Mueller is a brownfield project, redeveloping an underutilized space that incorporates sustainable principles, that will pay for itself and help revitalize East Austin," said Matt Whelan, senior vice president of Catellus Development Group, the master developer of Mueller. "Having the BLOOMhouse project here at Mueller is an opportunity for everyone to learn from what this team creates for the future of Mueller and other Central Texas communities."
Mueller is achieving its own sustainability goal in multiple ways:
- Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas is on track in seeking LEED designation sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council;
- The Ronald McDonald House at Mueller is the first House in the country to install solar panels;
- Other commercial buildings at Mueller will meet or exceed a two-star energy efficiency rating in Austin Energy's Green Building Program while single-family homes will meet or exceed a three-star rating;
- More than 140 acres, or approximately 20 percent of the entire project, will be developed as parks and open space;
- The largest public art project in Austin will feature multiple sunflower sculptures that will collect solar energy and light the art at night; and,
- Many of the first homes at Mueller will feature Green Building techniques, such as tankless water heaters, programmable thermostats, and upgraded energy-efficient appliances and insulation materials.
The BLOOMhouse will continue construction at the "Texas Flag" hangar along 51st Street until it is transported to Washington, D.C. this October. In 2005, UT placed sixth out of 18 teams in the international Solar Decathlon competition. In 2006, UTsolarD won the BP Solar internal design competition for the Solar Decathlon, beating six other university teams that submitted design plans to meet four specified criteria addressing commercial, economic, technical and overall efficient design aspects.
UT's sponsors include Catellus, Austin Energy, Beck Construction, Meridian Energy Systems, the Texas Solar Energy Society, Alno Austin, BP Solar, the University Co-op and StructAll.
For more information about the Solar Decathlon, visit http://www.eere.energy.gov/solar_decathlon/ .
For more information about UTsolarD, visit http://www.ar.utexas.edu/utsolard/enterpg.html .
About Mueller
Mueller will be developed over 10 to 15 years and is expected to include up to 4,600 single-family and multi-family living units, a mixed-use town center, an elementary school, the 32-acre campus of the Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, 3.8 million square feet of office space, 650,000 square feet of retail space, a central transit corridor that provides for a possible extension of mass transit service, more than 140 acres of open space and a pattern of landscaped streets designed to support pedestrians and bicycles. The first phase of the project, the northwest quadrant, is adjacent to I-35 and includes retail development and the Dell Children's Medical Center.
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