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WE PROPOSE A CONCEPT NAMED SUN SLICE

Sun slice is a slice of a collective multi-family urban housing complex fed & powered by the sun.

Sun slice is a vertical single-family solar housing unit with garden that can be assembled to form rows & blocks to build urban scale high-density collective housing complexes with shared spaces, facilities, amenities and services.

Sun slice draws from the history of the city the lesson that autonomous housing can be effectively brewed into the city. It is a contemporary version of the terraced house that shaped the urban identity of Europe from the XIVth well into the XIXth century.

Sun slice can assume various configurations to meet different emerging demand – young families, elderly couples, singles, big families, co-housers, students…– and lifestyles – open space, flexibility, gardening, food production, work at home…

Sun slice combines the advantages of autonomous housing (flexibility, evolutiveness, freedom, variety) with the advantages of urban density (efficient use of soil, contest responsiveness, shared spaces and services).

Sun slice has a light fiber composite (pultruded) multi-storey braced frame structure, enveloped by a ventilated dry-assembly skin expressly designed to respond to contest character; it can easily be completed, personalized and upgraded by end users.

Sun slice incorporates responsive envelope, photovoltaic power generation, 110 V direct current distribution, advanced electricity storage, heat pump system integrated with solar collectors, smart home management, efficient lighting, hybrid ventilation, water recovery, separate waste collec-tion, electric mobility.

Sun slice will be designed, engineered and built by the students of Politecnico di Torino, in a joint effort that will merge toward a shared goal a wide range of disciplines in a unique didactic experience conceived as a continuous hands-on workshop.

With the support of industrial and market sponsors, architecture, urban design, building physics, structural engineering, electrical engineering, finance, building economics, urban sociology, informatics, interaction design, car design will join their efforts to make sun slice real and prove that urban life can be turned from grey to green.

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POLITO team shares the goals of Solar Decathlon 2014. The six items listed in the official “Request for proposals” have been the starting point of our concept development, and led us to define the strategies explained below.

1. URBAN DENSITY

Our main goal is to prove that sun-powered low-energy demand houses can move on: from the first age of experimental sub-urban autonomous houses to more mature urban and collective housing models fit for market production. We designed a vertical house based on a 3.5 x 3.5 x 3.5 m spatial modular grid. Modules can be assembled and stacked to form a multi-storey single-family house that makes a sun slice. Sun slices can be assembled into urban rows and blocks with the density of European historical inner cities. We will this way be able to increase average densities from the previous Solar Decathlon aver-age FAR (floor/area ratio) of 0.2-0.15 m2/m2 – which is typically suburban - to average FAR of 1.0 and up to 2.0 m2/m2, which is traditional European urban density, far higher than post-war mod-ernist housing that ranged around 0.6/0.7 m2/m2. The use of the well-established “terraced house” building type allows eco-houses to merge in existing urban tissues and to form streets, squares and contribute positively to the life of public space. Housing can mix with other function as small shops, workshops, offices at street level. Energy concept of sun slice is also inherently urban. Each sun slice is a cell of a neighbourhood and urban smart energy grid system. Each unit is a potentially stand-alone system (PV + storage cells) that is connected and exchanges energy with other units (local smart grid) and with the city general energy supply system (urban smart grid) in order to optimize provision and prevent peak crisis.

MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE TEAM

2. SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY

Sunslice density concentrates a higher num-ber of users in a smaller range. This means that public transport becomes competitive and that primary services are made acces-sible within walking distance, thus dramat-ically reducing the demand for private-car use and promoting sustainable mobility. We hitherto understand that individual freedom of movement has become a part of contem-porary urban life: sunslice is thus equipped with bicycles – the low-tech, low- cost and healthy key to individual medium range mo-bility - and XAM 2.0, a totally electrical ve-hicle with a permanent magnets electrical motor designed and built by Politecnico students for the 2012 Future Car Challenge, already tested on the road for daily use, for larger range mobility.

3. SOBRIETY AND PLEASURE

Post-war economic growth allowed mass access to welfare for the first time in human history. Today we know that this was based on cheap fossil energy, unsustainable con-sumption and unfair global relations. We need to move towards a more sober life-style. Sun slice demands less: less soil, less ener-gy, less water; it produces lower emissions and less waste. This is sustainability and, for the user, translates directly into economies. But less is not enough. We have to underline also the pleasure of new lifestyles to make them desirable. Sun slice offers more: more life in city and community, more natural lighting and venti-lation, more comfort, more space, more time (by incorporating workspace into home),

more nature (by incorporating outdoor spac-es, gardens and orchards), more possibilities (by admitting future improvements), more freedom (by allowing personalized inter-nal lay-out and contest-responsive external identity).“more with less” is our key to shared change towards a fair, sustainable and comfortable urban life.

4. INNOVATION

We assume innovation as a social process incorporating technology and user’s behav-iour. These two aspects cannot be separat-ed. This is particularly important as we de-sign a complex device for sheltering humans – the house – that will be used by the broad-est possible public – every human being has

FAR 1,0

FAR 2,0

SUN SLICES CAN BE ASSEMBLED INTO URBAN ROwS AND BLOCkS wITh ThE DENSITY OF EUROPEAN hISTORICAL INNER CITIES

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the right to be housed – and that as home has deep historical, anthropological and symbol-ical roots: one of the oldest human artefacts, the basic unit of both city and society, the place of self-representation, memory and so-cial identity.4.1: INNOVATION IN TEChNOLOGYsun slice incorporates the most advanced solutions in all possible fields of application implied by the 2014 theme: construction, in-sulation, energy production, distribution and management, mobility, water management, information technology, interaction design.Still, we want sun slice to be simple in con-ception, production and use: innovation is therefore integrated and embedded, not ex-alted and exhibited. This is the basis to bring sound technological innovation to a large public, making it marketable, appealing and affordable. This makes a real market-ready industrial product different from a scientific test 1:1 model. We therefore apply in sun slice only tested and reliable technologies ready for mass production, while innovation resides in their transfer form other fields and in the way they are integrated in a new whole.4.2: INNOVATION IN USEsun slice user-oriented design is based on the notion that users more and more want to be active makers of their inhabited space. Technologies are thus conceives in sun slice as enabling devices that broaden the user’s possibilities and abilities and gives the user control over is/her daily environment.sun slice is based on the awareness that users’ cultural and social needs have rapidly changed and are nowadays by far more var-ious than in the more stable phase of post-war welfare and growth. Sun slice simple frame conception offers a flexible housing solution that can be completed in various fits to answer the needs of new families, sin-gle-parent families, re-composed families, ageing families, immigrant families; sun slice might as well incorporate special users as students.Sun slice spaces respond to emerging needs of adaptive and evolutive housing, integrate

private open spaces into the house, incorpo-rate nature experience and active care of the environment.Sun slice integrates privacy and co-habita-tion in a balanced mixture of ME and wE: a single, autonomous house that can be as-sembled into estates with shared spaces, amenities and facilities, recognising the con-temporary trend towards a more cooperative life.

5. AFFORDABILITY

Recent markets evolution have proved that high cost-high end products are not the only way to pursue quality. The economic crisis, particularly hard in real estate and in con-struction, have deeply touched the econom-ic model of housing production. We have to provide housing that is at the same time low cost and high performance. Low cost means to us that sun slice in its base configuration (75 m2) should be built with 1,000 € per m2 and have a final market cost (including open spaces, terrace garden roof and ground-floor space) of around 100,000 €. High performance means to us that sun slice has to be a nearly zero energy building.Sun slice can achieve this goals thanks to its absolute simplicity. The modular standard-ized structural frame unit can be combined in various configuration but employs a restrict-ed set of industrialized elements and joints - that can be produced in large numbers at low costs. Technical equipment is made of serial components largely available on the market at decreasing prices. Simple light construc-tion and dry assemblage allow proper ad-aptation to local environmental conditions (climate, exposure etc.) and users’ interven-tion in construction, thus lowering final cost by the provision of work and time (instead of money) in the building process; sun slices can be completed and finished by their in-habitants.

6. ENVIRONMENT

Sun slice will be part of an existing urban en-vironment. Although some features might be similar from one location to another (f.i. den-sity) other might vary in considerable way. Climate is the more evident: sun slices might be located in a mild Mediterranean climate, where summer heat prevails on winter cold in challenging home comfort; or could as well be inserted in Northern European cities, where winter condition provide more severe design tasks to the house. Even more variable are subtler aspects like urban landscape: local colours, materials, patterns, textures have to be taken into ac-count for appropriate and contest-respon-sive design.Sun slice will accomplish the “paradoxical” task of being both highly standardized and highly site-specific by separating core and shell.

INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT hAS BECOME A PART OF CONTEMPORARY URBAN LIFE: SUNSLICE IS ThUS EQUIPPED

wITh BICYCLES AND XAM 2.0, A TOTALLY ELECTRICAL VEhICLE

The core is structure and technical equipment; the core is always the same, assembled and composed in different configurations based on the same set of components. The core is a generic architecture. The core is global, as are our human basic needs. The core is highly technical, but this tech is hidden: it works for the user without dominating his/her daily land-scape. The core is repetitive and serialized to minimize production costs.The shell is insulation, roofing, façades, side walls, windows and finishes; the shell can vary according to local climatic conditions (thicker or thinner insulation, triple or double glazing, wider or smaller windows etc.) to local cultural and aesthetic values (wood, stone, brick, plas-ter, wooden or metallic frames etc.) even so far as to “mimic” historical forms (we could want sun slices with Georgian columns and stucco mouldings). The shell is a specific architec-ture. The shell is local, as is the character and taste of our beloved cities. The shell can be customized to meet individual preferences.

SUN SLICE wILL ACCOMPLISh ThE “PARADOXICAL” TASk OF BEING BOTh hIGhLY STANDARDIZED AND hIGhLY

SITE-SPECIFIC BY SEPARATING CORE AND ShELL

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TECHNICAL INNOVATION AND DESIGN

INNOVATION AND SOCIETY

The sun slice technical innovation is based on our understanding of recent trends in society – changes in households’ composition, evolution of lifestyles – that together with restricted credit access and family savings will shape the landscape of housing in the years to come.

Changes in households’ composition

Global population and, in particular, urban population is experiencing a process of ageing that is transforming the composition of households. In Europe – 25 (2007), the households with a single adult aged 65 or over correspond to 13.2% and those with a couple at least one 65 or over (without children under 18 in the household) to 11.0% (Source: Eurostat). Among the European population over 65, 42.1% of women and 19,5% of men live alone; 37.3% of women and 60.5 of men live just with a partner. As a consequence of the growing average age of population, the presence of dif-ferent types of dementia is growing as well: it is estimated that about 5.8 million of persons suffer for this disease in Europe 25 countries. Moreover, there is a growing differentiation of house-holds’ types. More traditional forms of family (couples with or without children) correspond only to 49.1% of European households; so more than a half of global population live as a single (30.8%) or in other forms. Single adult with children correspond to 3.1%. The average size of households is 3.1 members (mean over individuals). The variety of family structures is increased by the cultural differences among the population of each country. In 2008, 30.8 million foreign citizens lived in the EU27 states, of which 11.3 million are citizens of another EU27 country. The remaining 19.5 million are citizens of countries outside the EU27 (6.0 million of other European countries, 4.7 million of Africa, 3.7 million of Asia and 3.2 million of America). So, foreign citizens accounted for 6.2% of the total EU27 population. This percentage is generally higher in urban areas. In short, the design of dwellings must take into account the heterogeneity of housing needs that will lead to a growingly segmented housing market.

The evolution of lifestyles

Another factor of heterogeneity in housing practices is the differentiation of lifestyles. A recent trend regards the increasing de-mand for housing that present some form of shared services. The more intense experi-ence of intentional communities (ecovillag-es, cohousing communities, residential land trusts, student co-ops, urban housing co-operatives, etc.), still have a limited impact. However, there is a growing demand for var-ious forms of housing that present shared facilities or activities. Common facilities may include a kitchen, dining room, laundry, child-care facilities, offices, co-working spaces, guest rooms, and recreational features. Co-housing is more widespread in North-west-ern Europe (today 1 percent of the Danish population – about 50,000 people – live in co-housing; in Netherlands there are more the 100 projects of Centraal Wonen).

Sustainable lifestyles: growing importance of urban and suburban agriculture

According to the United Stated Department of Agriculture, around 15 percent of the world’s food is now grown in urban are-as. City and suburban agriculture takes the form of backyard, rooftop and balcony gar-dening, community gardening in vacant lots and parks, roadside urban fringe agriculture, use of grow-bags to raise a wide range of crops (“bagriculture”). The desire for local food production in urban areas is also reach-ing a global scale with the “Transition Town movement” and other urban movements (e.g. “Guerrilla gardening”). Urban agriculture practices have a variety of goals: they can be a way to mitigate crisis effects for poor pop-ulation (as a part of subsistence economy); can be a market oriented practice or a form of permanent or occasional leisure activity.

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ARChITECTURAL INNOVATION

Sun slice is an urban architectural typology. Its concept is based on the terraced house historical model: a thin plot developed in depth, perpendicular to the road, with a clear differentiation of front and back: the former public and formal, the latter private, domestic and often vernacular.Sun slice width is 3.5 m. It is the minimum size to host car parking and a staircase to accede upper floors; it is also the width of a comfortable room or small bedroom plus bathroom. Minimum depth is twice 3.5 = 7.0 m. Thus minimum floor surface is 7.0 x 3.5 = 24,5 m2. Superposed floor are distanced 3.5 m. Sun slice is thus a vertical house. Inner space at each floor is clearly oriented by two open walls and two parallel blind walls. Stairs become the main architectural ele-ments in interior design; mezzanines are pos-sible and add variety. A simple elevator or lift platform in central position makes all floors accessible to all users. The ground floor of sun slice is for non-resi-dential use: it can host car and bikes, be the family’s warehouse become a shop, work-space or else; it can open on an inner garden o be prolonged to fill the plot and provide a sunny terrace to the first floor.The top floor is a flat roof that can host the family’s roof orchard or garden; it is shaded by a bower (PV panels on a metallic frame so as to be properly oriented and inclined according to location’s best exposition) that protects plants from aggressive sun radia-tion in summer. The green roof accumulates water, slowing down violent rainfalls; water is also collected and stored in a ground-floor tank.A technical wall the width of ½ module (1.75 m) serves each floor and hosts primary sys-tems at ground floor and roof, while for the piping and the elevator all the height is used in order to have an open plan layout for the flat and in order to use this volume as a sep-arator section between different building slices. At ground level it is both accessible

from the inner space and from the road, to allow easy maintenance. The base sun slice is thus a 4.25 x 7.00 x 14 m 4-storey building + bower and roof garden, with an inner net surface of 75 m2 on three floors. Variations can be obtained by in-creasing depth (+ 3,5 means that flat surface climbs to 110 m2, +7.0 brings it to 150 m2) still remaining in the single- family vertical con-cept. But sun slices could also be doubled, with the possibility of having two 75 m2 units at each floor, and become multi-family hous-es. The technical space can be coupled to form the common staircase (3.5 wide). Den-sification can also occur later in time, by ad-dictions on the backside, making sun slice an evolutive housing type.Lining up along the street, sun slices form a continuous urban façade; it can be uniform or with variations in colour, materials, texture and details giving specific identity to each house. A double row forms an inner space that can be the shared courtyard or garden, and host shared services. Each sun slice is in this case accessible both from the street and from the common yard. Cars are excluded from common spaces to make them calm and safe. Sun slices have formed an urban block. Shared facilities can also be integrated in the scheme; the block becomes a co-housing unit.Inner blind walls will have acoustic insula-tion, and thermal insulation if needed. Finish-es are needed only at end slices, which might have side windows to avoid blind façades on public space. Front and back façades have an internal thermal insulation and highly insulating windows; the external skin is a dry-assemblage cladding with different pos-sible finishes. If needed, shades can be in-corporated in façade design.

ENERGY STRATEGY The Sunslice is a Zero Energy Building (ZEB) because it is intended to produce more ener-gy than the energy that consumes on a time period of one year. This is done by exploiting solar energy in both electrical and thermal energy for all building energy uses (electrical equipment and lighting, space heating and cooling, DHW production, ventilation, water management and car charging).The Sunslice energy performance will be op-timized taking into account the trade-off be-tween energy demand and energy supply by means of dynamic simulation.The opaque and transparent envelope will be optimized finding a balance between the thermal resistance, heat storage capacity, daylighting and solar shading. For each of the previous requirements the most advanced technologies will be evaluated (Vacuum In-sulation Panels, Phase Change Materials, daylight domes, solar shelves) and contrast-ed with conventional technologies in terms of cost-benefit ratio.The electrical equipment requirement will be reduced by using high energy classes appli-ances. Considering the use of high energy efficient equipments and LED light fixtures for lighting, the energy consumption related to electric uses for each Sunslice has been estimated lower than 12 kWh/m2y.The energy consumption for DHW produc-tion is estimated to be lower than 10 kWh/m2y. The energy needs for space heating and cooling are estimated respectively lower than 15 kWh/m2y and 6 kWh/m2y .

ThERMAL ENERGY PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTIONThermal energy will be supplied exploiting re-newable sources as solar energy (by means of solar collectors) and aerothermal energy (by means of the heat pump). For heating and cooling a variable refrigerant volume system will be used to produce locally heat and cool with direct expansion terminal units. For hy-dronic systems which serve bathroom heat-

+

a

b

c

d

a. PVb. BATTERYc. APPLIANCES AND LIGHTINGd. HYBRID CAR

ab

c

d

e

f

g

ELECTRICITY HEATING AND DHWa. TH COLLETTORSb. OUTDOOR UNITc. HYDROBOXd. DHW TANKe.INDOOR UNITf. INDOOR UNIT FOR BATHROOM REATING

NIGHT COOLING

hEATING, COOLING & Dhw

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ing and DHW production a low temperature hot water loop is used and the hot water is heated in an heat exchanger (hydronic unit) that works between refrigerant and hot wa-ter. A water tank is used to store the solar energy captured by solar collectors.

ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTIONElectricity will be supplied by a photo-voltaic system. The electric distribution will be divid-ed into a main direct current (DC) part and an alternated current (AC) part dedicated only to supply specific electric loads. The line con-ductors and installations will be disposed in order to make confusion practically impossi-ble.The DC electric system will be operated at 110 V which is a safety voltage and does not need protection conductors and ground system. It will supply the lighting sources and the appliances ready for a DC supply; when needed local voltage modification will be ob-tained by means of efficient DC-DC convert-ers (computers, alarm sets, monitoring and information system). The AC electric system will be obtained by the conversion from DC to -AC near to the main users (induction cooking fires, battery charging having the AC-DC conversion inside the vehicle, small commercial appliances available only with AC supply, etc.). The volt-age will be defined by the rated one of the commercial components available (frequent-ly 230 V 50 Hz in Europe).A general power board will be installed at the roof level near to the PV system. A power board will supply all the electrical distribu-tion lines which will be connected to suitable connection boxes (for possible conversion) and sockets for users. The DC electric power distribution has two main advantages: avoid inefficient AC to DC conversion when the appliances are DC supplied; cancel in practice any problem of inhabitants exposition to magnetic field, be-cause DC magnetic fields have a limit of ex-posure hundred times higher than AC fields.The electric system will be managed in order

to optimize the overall consumption: most energy will be generated during the day-light time and it will be used for cooking, or for other electric appliances and mainly to charge batteries for evening and night hours. An intelligent system must monitor energy consumptions and manage them depending on the generation power and time available in order to get an optimal trade off among the best conditions for each user and for the building system.An average power consumption criteria (en-ergy consumption) can be used when the building is connected to the grid while a peak electric power limit must be satisfied when a stand-alone electric system is used and this point makes very different the PV batteries and rated power.

ELECTRICITY STORAGEOne of the bottlenecks of photovoltaics is the discontinuous energy generation. The electricity storage will be based on innova-tive batteries designed to provide reliable long-lasting back-up power for PV where frequent deep cycles are required and min-imum maintenance is desirable. As a second choice, an hydrogen storage system will be used; it is composed by an electrolyzer which produces hydrogen by using the PV electric-ity; the hydrogen is stored and later used in a fuel cell to provide both electricity and heat. Traditional storage with batteriesMarket available monobloc batteries with gelled electrolytes are completely spillproof , offer longer discharge and shorter charging times. After careful evaluation of the electric requirements and of the different available models the best solution will be chosen. Innovative accumulation system based on hydrogen The possibility of using a clean and innova-tive accumulation system will be evaluated. In collaboration with ElectroPowerSysytem, a factory founded in 2005 in Torino, an inno-vative accumulation system will be tested. It is named ElectroSelfTM and consists in an alkaline electrolyzer integrated with a PEM fuel cell stack. The basic idea is to convert

the extra-energy produced by renewable (PV) sources in hydrogen which is both an energy carrier and an energy storage system for off‐grid sites. When required and in night time, when the PV source is not working, the hydrogen, obtained from water dissociation using the energy of PV modules, will be the fuel alimenting the PEM fuel cell stack. The ElectroSelfTM system is particularly advan-tageous in case of co-generation (thermal and electric energy): utilizing the heat gener-ated during hydrolisis and in fuel cell opera-tion for heating sanitary water and ambient. A close cycle permits the re-usage of water from the fuel cells to the electrolyzer. Among the others, some advantages of hy-drogen are the following: high mass specific energy and power; minimized self discharge rate (the hydrogen can be stored without time limits, unlike other methods to store energy as batteries); clean, no pollution is produced in the conversion.

hEATING AND COOLING SYSTEM The space heating and cooling needs are covered by an air-to-air/water heat pump that consists of a single outdoor unit and:- multiple direct expansion indoor units (re-frigerant/air heat exchangers) for space heating and cooling;- an hydronic box (refrigerant/water heat ex-changer) for the hot water production devot-ed to the integration and back-up of the DHW and to the space heating of bathrooms.The electricity required by the heat pump is provided by the PV system with integration from the electricity grid.Both the hydronic box and the outdoor unit are located into the technical wall. In particu-lar, the outdoor unit is placed on the roof and visually and acoustically shielded by a vege-tation screen.

DOMESTIC hOT wATER The supply sources for the DHW storage are the solar thermal collectors and the hot water produced by the heat pump via the hydronic box. The priority is assigned to the solar col-lectors. The storage volume is divided into

Equipment and Lighting

Hybrid Car Charging

DHW use

city water

Heating & Cooling Unit

PV Electricitymeter

Battery

Electricitymeter

Heat Pump

PV panelson the roof

Integraded PV panelsin the facade

HydronicUnit

DHWStorage

TH collectors

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two tanks (lower temperature level, upper temperature level) in order to maximize the operation of the solar system and therefore the solar fraction. About 4 m2 of solar collec-tors are located on the roof. The total capac-ity of the DHW thanks is above 300 liters. An electric heater is used only to perform peri-odically thermal shocks in order to prevent the legionella.

VENTILATION SYSTEMThe ventilation system of each Sunslice op-erates with two strategies: Double flux mechanical ventilation with heat recovery;Buoyancy ventilation activated by stack ef-fect due to the height of the Sunslice.Buoyancy ventilation can be used also for free-cooling purposes during night summer time.The ventilation ducts are placed inside the technical wall.

PASSIVE ShADING SYSTEM The shading strategy of the façade will be finalized to minimize overheating during mid-season and summer periods and to guar-antee the lighting comfort requirements. The sunscreen type will allow each single living unit to be recognized from the surrounding others. Furthermore, in order to ensure a flexibility of orientation of the module hous-ing and to create a uniform urban design, the

facade system and its shading screen varies depending on the orientation.

RENEwABLE ENERGYThe solar thermal (TH) collectors are located on the roof and cover the energy needs for the DHW. Two types of photovoltaic (PV) panels are provided for each Sun Slice: - Monocristallyne PV panels placed on the roof arbour; - New generation of PV panels integrated into the facade. The total peak power of both PV will be about 3 kWp.Research is focusing on the development of new photovoltaic materials, which allow the production of more cost effective solar cells in the future. In particular, Dye-Sensi-tized Solar Cells (DSSCs) seem to be one of the most promising alternatives. They are electrochemical PV devices, where sunlight absorption is promoted by dye molecules attached to a nanocrystalline TiO2 layer. In-creasing attention and interest is raising upon DSSCs, due to their low cost raw ma-terials and processing, and to some surpris-ing features, such as partial transparency, lightness, flexibility, and a remarkable ener-gy harvesting capacity even in the absence of direct solar radiation. Furthermore, their aesthetic qualities increase their potential

for design applications. We plan to work, in collaboration with Italian industries involved in DSCSc research, in integrating DSCSc in a transparent coloured surface of the facade. Different solutions will be proposed with the aim of obtaining a structural and functional façade, where the presence of some DSSC modules will permit the generation of small DC electric power.PV system has to cover also the urban mobil-ity energy needs (hybrid car XAM 2.0) which is presumed to require about 600 kWh/year.

wATER MANAGEMENTA rain water recovery system is used to irri-gate the green areas. The rainwater storage tank is located within the technique wall on the ground floor.

SMART hOMEAll plants (electrical, PV, heating, etc.) will be integrated by a comprehensive Smart Home system, using off-the-shelf Home Automation components. Different home appliances will be integrated to profit from inter-plant opti-mization strategies. The Smart Home system will monitor key physical quantities: energy production, consumption, battery charge lev-el, internal and external temperature, etc.

The proposal is to use a software component (free, open source) to interact with all the

home plants and all automation systems and coordinate a house-wide energy manage-ment strategy (also taking into account com-fort and inhabitants’ preferences and require-ments). This is integrated with a Smart Home Gateway (an embedded PC with open source software) for managing and coordinating the house plants, exploiting also information available on Internet (e.g., weather forecast-ing, inhabitants’ agendas, energy prices, etc) to improve its energy performance. The Smart Home Gateway will present to the in-habitants the key information about its cur-rent performance (eg., consumption, energy balance, temperatures, …) and show tips for improvement. Privacy issues will be respect-ed and regulated. European user studies show that user awareness contributes to 10-15% of energy savings.

LIGhTING SYSTEMThe lighting strategy, designed to be efficient and energy saving, is based on the use of daylight and on LEDs as artificial sources of light. LEDs fixtures have been selected for its lower energy consumptions but also as ca-pable of guarantee and increase the lighting comfort requirements.Furthermore we propose to use Dye-Sen-sitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) for indoor light harvesting. The solution seems to be pos-

1 2 3 4 5 6

sible, at the present state of development of DSSC, from a technical point of view. The basic idea is to use decorated interior walls, jointed and movable, useful to create, move, renew, change or personalize domestic envi-ronments, which also allow to produce some electricity for household internal uses.In the table a preliminary estimation of the possible costs is reported, and in the following picture some envisaged solutions are illustrat-ed.

STRUCTURAL SYSTEM

The Sunslice Structural System keyword is lightness: to reduce the effects of horizontal actions, to allow safe and fast assembling, disassembling and transportation, to reduce the impact of foundations. A fibre composite (pultruded) multi-storey braced frame is the suitable answer. Pultruded shapes provide high strength (up to two times steel strength), reduced weight (25% of steel weight) and very good workability. No heavy machinery is required for cutting and drilling and both gluing and bolting can be used in joints. Workability and strength-weight ratio make all the construction and assembly steps safe and affordable by the student team. The bracing system, partially positioned in the technical side space, provide lateral stability,

without needing complex full strength frame joints. The light frame structure is coupled with engineered timber lightweight slabs and flooring, in order to obtain a totally dry, highly performing structural system. The construction process involves preas-sembly of subframes and slabs at the ground level and lifting with crane, almost totally avoiding the need of scaffolding and paying attention to workers and students safety. Helical piles technology will be used in foun-dations, dramatically reducing the cost and the complexity of construction. Helical piles provide uplift resistance, required to lateral stability without the need of digging and con-crete casting. As well as the composite structure, the foun-dations can be removed from ground after dismantling ad eventually reused.

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FUND RAISING AND

TEAM SUPPORT

GESD+EDILOG(POLITO)

PROFESSIONALTRAINIG CENTER

(CIPET)

DAIKIN FIAMM

LAMINAM MASPERONEXIT

Y

FRESIAALLUM

INIO CE

IPI

EMON

TE

DAD DISAT

DIST

DIMEA

S

DAVINDENERG

SDW

SUNSLICE

EDUCATION

RESEARCH

68%

1%

1%

4%4%

15%

3%

4%

INSURANCE POLICIES

MATERIAL OVERHEAD

ASSEMBLY, TRANSPORT, DISASSEMBLY PROCESSS

LABOR OVERHEADS & FRINGE BENEFITS

TRAVELS AND COSTS FOR FINAL PHASE IN VERSAILLES

OTHER DIRECT COSTS

CONSULTANT

DIRECT MATERIALS

The total cost estimated to make SUN SLICE construction is about 500.000€. To promote interactions between new materials – as for instance Phase Changing Materials (PCM) incorporated in floor slabs– or technologies – as f.i. Dye Sensitizerd Solar Cells Panels – that usually don’t match low direct materials costs, we have chosen to hold down other project’s costs. This means that the project budget is focused on construction.For example labor (for students and profes-sors who assembly SUN SLICE, we consider only benefits) and consultants (we consider only costs for signed structural drawings and calculation and for the works supervision in Versailles). Altogether they represent about 5% of the project.Also the amount for assembly, disassembly and transport process of the sun slice house is kept down (about 4%) because of ground assembly process of each SUN SLICE floor, that simplifies constructions and eliminates safety risk for students. The estimated costs are just for hiring 2 days a crane and some forklift truck during the assembly process.Other travels and transport costs (15% of total) cannot be kept even down because of their own nature. We calculate about 75€/person a day for accommodation in Paris

(30€ lodging and 45€ expenses) during the competition.About costs covering, we have chosen to look for in-kind founds from industry (mate-rials, equipment, instrumentation and facil-ities) and cash funds in order to cover the other costs (transport, consultants, labor, ..).

FUND RAISING PLAN

The fund raising will be organized towards both the Industry and Institutional organiza-tions involvement, in order to pursue the stu-dents’ best educational growth, and put them in touch with the industry. This should be in-terested, on turn, in improving the research of new technologies, and the Solar Decath-lon Experience would be the right way. In re-turn, they will provide their know-how supply and, moreover, support a part of the costs. This involvement should be whether in-kind (materials, equipment, instrumentation and facilities) or as cash contribution, due to the specific area each firm works in. An important support will also come from in-stitutional organizations, as the CEI Piemonte (Piemonte Agency for Investments, Export and Tourism, the first Italian agency dedicat-ed to internationalization). CEIP will provide a concrete supply in matching our school with local producers and, during the development of the proposal, in the entire work progress. CEIP has already stated its support in the at-tached letter.

The main idea is that university research and teaching activity are strictly connected each other. So, the industry involvement is crucial in order to support the students in the Solar Decathlon proposal, both in design and build-ing activities. Producers will directly partic-ipate in the students’ experience within the sun slice living lab that we will establish in case of selection, providing their technical know-how in an appropriate workshop envi-ronment. On the other hand, they will observe the experimental realization of new building technologies directly designed and built by the students, who will acquire a relevant di-rect training experience.

COSTS ASSOCIATED wITh ThE PROJECT AND NEED FOR FUND

RAISING

We have already selected a first core of sup-porters and possible providers of the sun slice project (see attached letters of support):

- DAIkIN, world leader in air conditioning and heat pumps, for all air treatment ventila-tion and conditioning technologies;

- MASPERO, one of the main producers of elevators in Italy, for accessibility technolo-gies (especially the lift platform) with possi-ble energy recuperation;

- LAMINAM, one of the most innovative Eu-ropean firms in the cladding sector, for the external and internal dry assemblage skins, covering and coatings

- FRESIALLUMINIO, regional leader in win-dows systems and transparent envelope

- NEXITY Italy, part of the International Nex-ity group, one of the most innovative actors of the real estate market, interested in new typologies for low cost / high performance budget

Contacts have been made with the main producer of pultruded structures DURA COMPOSITES and the world leader in helical poles TECHNOMETALPOST for the structural system, that will support the team in case of selection.

Technology and knowledge in the fields of electrical equipment, domotic and PV will be provided by start-up enterprises of the I3P industrial incubator of Politecnico di Torino.The XAM 2.0 hybrid car will be kindly made available in its 2014 version by the h2politO team currently entering the 2012 Future Car Challenge.

Another main partner is CIPET, the region-al building professional training center. It is a craft school where workers and stu-dents apprehend to became masons or craftsmen in all sectors of construction industry. This educational center, that ius already an established partner of POLI-TO, is interested in taking part in Solar Decathlon experience, by training and teaching our students how to build their proposal, and supporting them in the con-crete activities. The availability at CIPET of a fully equipped didactic building ground will allow students to build the sun slice house and test it before the Versailles final phase.

with the acquired support of the above mentioned partners, SUN SLICE has al-ready consolidated a core of technical and financial partners that covers all cru-cial fields of construction and guarantees the feasibility and delivery of the built prototype in Versaille 2014.

Moreover, beside the mentioned contri-butions, we will plan a cash fund raising looking for key sponsors interested in the educational and research experience, as foundations or institutions.

18 19

Solar Decathlon 2014 curriculum integration: merging research and teaching in a perma-nent student living lab

POLITECNICO INTEGRATES kNOwLEDGE SINCE 1906

The Politecnico di Torino was founded in 1906 through the merger of the Regio Museo In-dustriale Italiano (Royal Industrial Museum), founded in 1862 and influenced by English and French models, and the Regia Scuola di Applicazione per Ingegneri (Royal School of Applied Military Studies for Engineers), founded in 1859. Its history is similar to that of other comparable Academic Institutions, such as Polytechnic of Zurich and Lausanne, Delft Polytechnic, the Institut National Poly-technique de Grenoble, the Imperial College in London, Polytechnic School in Munich (currently Technische Universität), the Uni-

versitat Politècnica de Catalunya, and also the old Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, founded in 1794.Politecnico enjoys a solid reputation, at re-gional level and especially at national and international level, for its undergraduate, postgraduate courses, doctorates and re-search programmes, thanks to the specifici-ty of a model featuring contiguous education of engineers and architects and to positive relationships with the industrial system and local institutions. In order to improve and streamline study opportunities for more talented and moti-vated students, Politecnico plans to intro-duce elements of encouragement, directed to offer students the opportunity to further their preparation. Utmost specialisation in advanced fields or a sound transversal and interdisciplinary content shall be qualifying elements of said furthering. In this perspec-tive, Politecnico plans to avail itself of the experience gained through “Solar Decathlon 2014”.Through the formation of a basis in all areas of knowledge that traditionally converge in the architecture and engineering discipline, the Bachelor level aims to provide analysis and design skills that constitute a valuable support for students wishing to pursue their studies in MSc-level programs in both fields. The three-year training courses focus on the practice of architectural design and engi-neering in its various aspects and at different scales, incorporating both humanistic, scien-tific and technical disciplinary contributions. Traditionally structured courses are supple-mented by mono-disciplinary laboratories and ateliers, or multidisciplinary laboratories providing opportunities for practical applica-tion of theoretical learning, as well as creat-ing learning experiences from the reality of territorial transformation and interdiscipli-nary dialogue.

POLITECNICO FOR SOLAR DECAThLON 2014

Counting on the position held at worldwide level by Politecnico as academic institution and especially as a centre of excellence in specific research areas and on the dynamism of its investments in new frontier topics, the Solar Decathlon project will incorporate re-search projects, technical innovation and creativity that will make the project more likely to succeed. The students will work in cooperation with CIPET, a joint body run by the College of the Building Contractors and of the Craft Asso-ciations of the district of Turin, the Union of building contractors of the district of Turin. CIPET is aimed to the promotion, planning and implementation of educational activities for first training, qualification courses, refresh-er and specialization courses for workers of the building sector. It will thus be possible to combine competences from the design area, research projects and technical innovations of the Sunslice projects together with skilled labour and craftsmanship. The Solar Decathlon project will need sub-stantial budget, it will thus be founded partly by the Sponsors, Partners and Institutions that the students of the team tried to involve, partly it will be founded by the Polytechnic of Torino itself in particular by the “Board Funds Planning Students”.

SUN SLICE LAB

If the nomination for the Solar Decathlon 2012 will be accepted, a specific living lab on the Sun Slice design, engineering and construc-tion will be set up on permanent basis for the whole period (beginning 2013-summer 2014). The Sun Slice Lab will consist in a physi-cal location within the Politecnico, wholly equipped to enable conception, detailing, simulation, calculation and complete engi-neering of the Sun Slice concept. The Lab will be run by a selected interdisciplinary team of students coming from different courses and enrollment years. The permanent team will count about 30 members, while the Lab will

be open for shorter shifts to students contrib-uting to specific phases or tasks. Selection will be operated on motivation and curricu-lum basis by the Politecnico students’ inde-pendent association Plinto through a public and transparent process and will guarantee that all architecture and engineering fields are properly represented. The Sun Slice Lab will work under the sci-entific supervision of professors and re-searchers members of the Sun Slice group that proposes this bid. The in house technical services of Politecnico will provide techni-cal assistance to the students and assess the technical and economical feasibility of each design step. The supporting industrial partners will provide technical support and specific training modules in the design and engineering phase.In the construction and test phase the Sun Slice Lab will operate at CIPET, the Piedmont centre for the training of construction work-ers, on a site wholly equipped to operate ef-fectively and safely in self-construction with students. Construction will be supported with technical advice, components and materials by industrial partners.

SUN SLICE LAB AND TEAChING PROGRAMMES

Students from bachelors and master courses will be kindly advised to take part to in Sun Slice Llab as an extracurricular activity. All Lab’s activities will be accredited. Master students will be allowed also to chose the Solar Decathlon project as their thesis topic and dedicate thus one whole semester to it. Furthermore, the spontaneous participation of students from all level courses, will con-tribute to make the design atelier an inter-disciplinary unit. Hereby a list of the courses whose student could apply to the Atelier:

- Architecture - Architectural engineering - Cinema and media engineering

- Civil engineering - Computer engineering - Electrical engineering - Electronic engineering

The Sun Slice concept includes mobility with hybrid car XAM 2.0, developed by the Team H2politO, a group of students of the Politecni-co di Torino already operating for the Future Car Challenge, whose background and pro-files come from various fields of engineering – from Automotive and Mechanical to Elec-tronics, Aerospace, Energy, Mathematics, Computer Science, Mechatronics, Manage-ment, Cinema and Media and Industrial De-sign. (www.polito.it/h2polito). The integration of XAM 2.0 team in Sun Slice Llab broadens the impact of the project on the educational and research activities of Politecnico, making it the first interdiscipli-nary project expressly conceived to inte-grate knowledge and tuition in all educa-tional fields.

INTEGRATIVE DESIGN METhODOLOGY

To effectively pursue integration of skills and disciplines in design, Sun Slice Lab will adopt specific innovative cooperative design tech-niques as: - Periodical design charrettes in which spe-cialized groups of tutors and students will merge their knowledges and skills in sessions alternating plenary discussions / presenta-tions with design activities in smaller groups. Design charrettes will be lead by trained fa-cilitators (professors in architectural design, costruction engineering, technical systems) and supported by specific design tools as 3d and real models; - Open brainstorming sessions with invited discussants from research and industry; - Thematic focus groups on specific design issues and themes (sustainability, information technology, energy analysis an simulation, building physics, environmental comfort, ma-

terials, project and costruction management, work safety, communication) moderated by a professor and with invited experts; - web-based interaction through the Sun Slice website, that will be designed as a tool for interaction and discussion within the lab, with shared library, blog, project archive, discussion forums etc.; the website materi-als will be made accessible to all students and researchers after each design step is achieved and validated.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE AT SUN SLICE LAB

The Sun Slice Llab will offer students an unique chance to experience new forms of learning, that integrate and complete the in-stitutional disciplinary curricula:

- interdisciplinary design experience, work-ing with colleague students from different fields and realms; - intensive workshop experience, merging students, professors and experts in a single thinking and design team; - hands-on experience, with practical work on construction, assembly, building and test-ing supported by specialized trainers and assisted by experienced workers and crafts-men; - mutual tuition, incorporating students’ peer-to-peer knowledge transfer within the lab; - vertical integration, allowing younger stu-dents to benefit from the coaching of more experienced and older workmates.

The Lab will also offer Politecnico di Torino the chance of testing new forms of knowl-edge transfer, tuition and integration of re-search and didactics, that could afterwards be transferred on a more general scale, in the constant effort of making our school evolve towards a more complex and inte-grate model, coping with the emerging needs of society.

CURRICULUM INTEGRATION

AND SPECIAL

CONSIDERATIONS

20 21

DECISIONS AND CONFLICTS RESOLUTIONS

The design and construction activities relat-ed to Sun Slice will be integrated at the at the scale of Politecnico di Torino university, an institution which gathers competencies, re-search teams and courses in all the subjects involved in the development of the project. The Sun Slice Team includes the following disciplines, all represented by professors of Politecnico di Torino: Architectural and Ur-ban Design, Energy, Structural Engineering, Sociology, Valuation, Materials Science, Electrical Engineering Experimental Physics, Information. Further, the project will be sup-ported by the Construction and Facility Man-agement Office (EDILOG) and by the Support of Research and Technology Transfer (SAR-TT) which will provide technical and organ-ization assistance. The presence of all the team members (students and teachers) and of the support offices, inside one institution is considered determinant in the coordina-tion of activities, in the attribution of specific responsibilities and in the resolution of con-flicts. The Rector of Politecnico will be the top level decision maker.

ACTIVITIES INVOLVED IN ThE PROJECT

The project involves four main groups of ac-tivities, that cannot be developed separately, but through a continuous interaction process: the design, as the process of elaboration of ideas and definition of solutions, generating drawings, manuals, plans, guidelines, nec-essary to the construction; the deepening, i.e. the processes of analysis, simulation, en-richment of knowledge, investigation of side effects, feed-backs, driving the design deci-sions to the optimal solutions; the construc-tion, from tests and prototypes, to the final construction at the event; the communica-tion, in order to grant circulation and sharing of ideas and to promote the work.

PLANNING AND ORGANIZATION

Due to the complexity of the project the ac-tivities are planned accordingly with two criteria: subdivision of the main task in sub-tasks, involving specific skills and attitudes (synchronic); subdivision in time steps, cor-responding to progressive evolution of each subtask (diachronic).

ChART AND TIMELINE

The synchronic organization is based on setting 5+1 subteams with specific respon-sibilities. Each subtask is responsible for the production of a set of deliverables and of the interactions with other subteams. Involve-ment of teachers and students in subtasks is free, in order to allow variety and flexibility of contributions. However, subteams will refer to a responsible who grants for accomplish-ing the subtask. (see chart in fig. 1)The diachronic organization is based on the division of the work in the following main steps: Conceptual and Preliminary design; Deepening; Final design and check; Total or partial Pre-assembling at Politecnico; Par-ticipation to the event (june/july 2014); Post

event deepening and feed-back. (see fig. 2 – time planning). The time planning will be bet-ter defined once the dates for deliverables and pre-event workshop will be defined.

TRANSPORTATION, ASSEMBLING AND DISASSEMBLING

The construction is at the same time the most critical task and the most intriguing chal-lenge of the project. The Sun Slice project is a five storeys building, fifteen meters tall, and the assembling is more complex than for a one storey house, mainly considering workers safety. However, the technical solu-tions involved in the Sun Slice project make the construction affordable by the students team, with a limited involvement of external support provided by private companies. The helical piles foundation system requires a few hours intervention of a private installer. The fibre composite skeleton is assembled in subcomponents, at the ground levels, by students, thanks to lightness and workability. Floor and main (structural, external) layer of walls is assembled at the ground too, gener-ating one storey modules that will be quick-ly positioned one above the other by a truck crane and using aerial lift platforms. Once the modules are superimposed and joined to form the whole skeleton, the assembly of in-ner components is performed by the students team, in totally safe conditions. The facade will be also assembled at the ground and lifted with the aid of a small crane. The pro-cess of partially pre-assembling one storeys modules to be lifted by crane, almost totally overcomes the need of scaffolding and other expensive device to grant the safety of work-ers. The construction of the structural skel-eton (including floors and structural walls), will be tested at Politecnico di Torino before the event, under the surveillance of the CIPET (see before) teachers and technicians, and of the EDILOG staff. Students will be trained to work at the construction accordingly with national and European standards on safety, as a part of their academic formation.

ORGANIZATION AND

PROJECT PLANNING

ST0 - ORGANISATION SUBTEAM

ST1 - DESIGN SUBTEAM PT1 - Design coordination PT2 - Conceptual and Architectural design D2.1 - DPM Design developments D2.2 - DPM Construction D2.2 - DPM As Built

ST2 - ENERGY & TEChNOLOGY SUBTEAM PT2 - Energy, building physics, technical components and systems D2.1 - DPM Design developments D2.2 - DPM Construction D2.3 - DPM As Built D3.1 - Energy Analysis Report D3.2 - Technology Options Report

ST SubTeamPT Project TaskD Deliverableblue Full responsibility – the subteam responsible solves conflictsred Shared responibility – conflicts are solved by PT1 responsible

ST3 - CONSTRUCTION SUBTEAM PT3 - Structural Design D2.1 - DPM Design developments D2.2 - DPM Construction D2.2 - DPM As Built D12 - Site Operation Plans D13 - Comprehensive Safety Plans D14 - Fire Life Safety Plans

ST4 - ECONOMIC SUBTEAM PT4 - Sponsors, evaluation, affordability D1 - Business and Fund Raising Plan D5 - Market Viability Report and Detailed Cost Estimates D10.1 - Project Financial Summary 1

D10.2 - Project Financial Summary 2

ST5 - COMMUNICATION SUBTEAM D4.1 - Web Site. & Social network initial development D4.2 – Web Site. & Social network final development D9 - Project summaries D6 - Audiovisual and scale model D7 - Pre-event workshop presentation D2.1, D2.2, D2.3, D8 - Support to Drawings and Project Manuals production D11 - Dinner Party Menu

jan jun jul aug2013

deliv

erab

les

2014sep oct nov decfeb mar apr may jan jun jul aug sep oct nov decfeb mar apr may

D1

D2

D3

D4

D5D6D7D8D9D10D11D12D13D14

D1- Buisness and Fund-Rasing Plan

D4.1- Web & SN Initial submission

D9 - Project Summary Project Summary Project Summary Project Summary

D6 - Preliminary audiovisual and scale architectural model

D4.2 - web & SN Final submissionD5 - Market Viability Report and Detailed Cost estimate

D7 - Update Project Information

D3.1 - Energy Analysis Report

D3.2 - Input Analysis Report

D2.1 - DPM Design developments

D2.2 - DPM Contrstruction

D2.2 - DPM as Built

D8- Stamped or signed Structural Drawawings and Calculations

D10.1 - P. Financial Sum.

D11 - Dinner Party Menu

D12- Site Operation PlansD13 - Comprenhensive Safety Plan

D14 - fire Life Safety Plan

D10.2 - Project Financial Summary

conceptual and preliminary design

deepening anddevelopment final design and check

final design and check

preevent

workshop

preassembling constraction

post eventphase CE

RIM

ON

Y

MAIN PROJECT PhASES AND DELIVERABLES TIME PLAN

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CONCLUSIONSDesigning and building an innovative urban solar house demands a wide range of knowledge, skills and competences in different architecture and engineering fields.

The POLITO Sun Slice team represents a compact and lean selection of all competences requested that will work as a single design lab focused on the development, design and delivery of the project. All researchers, professors and students implied and that will be implied belong to Politecnico di Torino, the nr. 1 ranking research university in Italy.

Politecnico concentrates a wide range of competences in a clear and single institutional and admin-istrative environment, thus dramatically simplifying steering and management of the Sun Slice project and reducing coordination risks. Politecnico offers top class research equipment and laboratories that can support the sun slice research and test phase.

Politecnico has an established experience of research-industry partnership, hosting in his campus main international industrial partners research laboratories of world leading firms as Motorola, General Motors, Telecom and Microsoft. Politecnico hosts in its I3P incubator innovative start-ups that will not only support the project, but also provide the entrepreneurial milieu and the venture capital support for pos-sible industrial outputs of the sun slice project through a specific newco to be founded in case of successful prototype testing.

A POLITO Energy Center is now under construction and its laboratories will start the activities in 2014; the Energy Center initiative, devoted to develop and to test innovative energy technologies, and Sun Slice project will be able to grow together.

Politecnico offers also a unique student milieu in a single campus, brewing engineering students and architecture student that has already proved to react positively and effectively in international students competition as Future Car Challenge for car design or Archiprix for architectural design.Politecnico has a solid in-house technical service (EDILOG) that will provide technical support to the sun slice project all along its different phases, bringing a professional expertise in construction, energy and building management.

Thanks to the mentioned strengths, POLITO sun slice team can make the best use of the possible contri-bution of 100,000 € mixed in cash and in-kind and of the already acquired in-kind supports by technical partners. The 100,000 € will be a booster for attracting further technical and financial support for generating a groundbreaking project for Solar Decathlon 2014 with the ambition of subsequent industrial develop-ment to enter the real estate an construction markets with an innovative product for low cost and high performance urban housing.