In the Solar Decathlon Europe competition (https://sde21.eu), teams are tasked with designing, building and operating a sustainable, efficient and innovative house using renewable energy during the competition and public shows. The CTU team is working on the topic "Reconstruction and extension of student dormitories" and they have chosen the dormitory Větrník in Prague as a model building. The design of the wood-based extension emphasizes prefabrication, low energy consumption, applicability to other, typologically similar buildings, all according to the principles of sustainable construction (http://firstlife.cz).
The competition jury evaluates both the overall design solution and the design and actual implementation of a representative functional section of the so-called demonstration unit, which will be built at CTU and then transported to Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany), the site of the competition, where it will be presented to the jury and the public during tours together with the houses of 17 other teams from Europe and Asia. The CTU competition building was selected by the organisers to be permanently located at the local Solar Campus, for long-term verification of performance and promotion of sustainable construction.
The core of the team consists of over 40 students from various fields of bachelor's, master's and doctoral studies mainly from CTU - Faculty of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Architecture, but students from Charles University, Czech University of Life Sciences and Masaryk University also participate in the project.
Teachers from participating faculties and research institutes as well as practitioners provide expert support and consultation to the team.
The participation of the Czech student team is under the auspices of the Rectors of CTU and Charles University, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, the City of Prague, the Czech-German Chamber of Commerce and the Czech Chamber of Architects.
The whole event is very financially demanding. In addition to the support of the organiser and the CTU, important supporting partners are property developers and construction companies, suppliers and manufacturers of building materials and elements and other entities. Much attention is naturally focused on the final of the competition in Wuppertal, accompanied by professional exhibitions, events for professionals and the public, where the German organisers expect up to 100,000 visitors.
Important dates:
- Assembly of the competition building and testing: March-April at the University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings (UCEEB CTU) in Buštěhrad, then transport to the competition site
- Construction at the site in Wuppertalu: 20.5.–2.6.
- Exhibition in Wuppertal open to public 10.6.–26.6.
- The CTU competition facility will be permanently located at the solar campus in Wuppertal for at least 3 years (until September 2025), and stay open to the public and will also be the subject of various research projects with international collaboration.