Theneed to develop houses that run on energy generated by on-siterenewable energy generators is more of a necessity now than aneco-minded individual’s endeavor to save the planet. Working to developaffordable housing for the future, Fabi Architects has come up with a prototype house dubbed the “House of the Future”.
Equippedwith an array of photovoltaic panels, the house will be its ownrenewable energy power house. The house has been developed in closecollaboration with SONNENKRAFT GmbH, the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Regensburg and Fraunhofer ISE.The angle of the wall and roof surfaces is ideally adapted to theorientation and type of use (solar thermal and photovoltaic). Thebuilding is constructed using a modern, highly insulated timber framewith FJI-beam construction.
Theconstruction allows for the maximum amount of natural illumination. Thehouse has been designed in a fashion that allows the winter sun to heatthe interiors, while the hot summer sun is kept out. In addition to the55-square-meter photovoltaic array, the house carries a solar thermalsystem that provides hot water, a controlled ventilation system withheat recovery, a rainwater harvesting system that provides water forirrigation and toilet flushing.
Collectively,the energy generating systems churn out more energy than what the houseactually requires, which make it achieve the expected constructionstandard of the year 2020.