LUMENHAUS: The House Of The Future Is Here

Like many of us, George Jetson is not a morning person.  However, his daily struggle is eased every morning by an automatic shower that soaps him up, brushes his teeth, and dresses him in seconds, all before he has fully opened his eyes.  Although that may have seemed like pure fantasy in the 1960s, with Virginia Tech’s LUMENHAUS design, such a home of the future is becoming a reality.

As the winner of the 2010 Solar Decathlon Europe, LUMENHAUS represents the cutting edge of responsive architecture. Inspired by Mies Van Der Rohe’s Farnsworth House, Virginia Tech’s design shares the emphasis on open-air planning to allow maximum exposure to natural daylight.  Independent sliding walls help to filter light and regulate house temperature, while a weather station on the roof provides weather updates that enable the house to run as efficiently as possible.

Over the course of last month, the LUMENHAUS team won the Solar Decathlon Europe through a series of ten contests: architecture, engineering and construction, solar systems and hot water, energy balance, comfort conditions, appliances and functionality, communication and social awareness, industrialization and market viability, innovation, and sustainability.  Schneider Electric, the main sponsor of the competition’s projects, further enabled LUMENHAUS to connect to both the American and European grids through a system of inverters and half-way batteries.

This zero-energy home transforms the idea of smart technology.  In stating its design approach, LUMENHAUS explains how its “whole building design” incorporates all the home’s components and systems to maximize user comfort and environmental protection.  Through user-recognition software powered fully by the sun, the house adjusts both its occupants as well as to nature outside.  Moreover, with its focus on sustainability along with comfort, LUMENHAUS eco-friendly technology offers a solution to make life simpler and more energy efficient.

LUMENHAUS