19 university teams from across the world are gearing up to make their way to Washington D.C. for the Solar Decathlon. Last week,we previewed the 19 designs and, by popular demand, today we’ll be sharing more info about SCI-Arch + CalTech’s design. Entitled CHIP (short for Compacted Hyper-Insulated Prototype) the residence’s geometry is designed to respond to the sun’s orientation while wrapped in a sun performative envelope. More about CHIP, including a video walk-through, after the break.
While all 19 entries into the competition certainly redefine the aesthetic of a residence, SCI-Arch and CalTech’s seems to take it a step further. At first glance, one is simply intrigued by the puffy material wrapping the geometric form; and yet, of course, the look functions beyond a mere aesthetic shock value. Constructed using low-cost billboard material fastened with zip ties, dowel rods, and lag screws, this vinyl-coated fabric mesh “turns conventional wisdom on its head, wearing its thermal performance on its sleeve.”
