FutureHAUS Dubai Team Prepares for Solar Decathlon Middle East
June 21, 2018
Last week at the College's Research + Demonstration Facility, the Virginia Tech Solar Decathlon Middle East team assembled FutureHAUS Dubai from 18 prefabricated "cartridges" on which they have been working for the last few months.
Led by Prof. Joseph Wheeler, a team of A+D students, along with students from other Virginia Tech colleges, developed the design of the net-positive energy home over the past several years, incorporating their research into sustainability, responsive technologies, and new methods of prefabrication.
The team is now preparing for the Solar Decathlon Middle East, Nov. 14-28, 2018, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
In October, the FutureHAUS cartridges will be shipped to the Middle East and reassembled in Dubai to compete with 21 universities from 16 countries in a series of 10 contests in which the team must demonstrate that FutureHAUS is the world's most well-designed, efficient solar home. The Virginia Tech Solar Decathlon Middle East team is composed of 65 students and 18 faculty from five colleges, 14 disciplines, and seven countries and is the only U.S.-based group selected to participate in the intercollegiate global competition.