Taking a self-made, energy-neutral Dutch terraced house and sustainable garden to Versailles

For their entry in the 2014 Solar Decathlon. The TU Delft student team has constructed a copy of the parental home of one of the students from Honselersdijk, a terraced house from the 1960s. Through the application of a ‘second skin’, the students show how this type of house can be made energy-neutral, while at the same time creating additional living space. The concept is called Prêt-à-Loger, home with a skin, and is ready for habitation because the residents can continue to live there while the second skin is being applied. There are 1.4 million such houses in the Netherlands that could be adapted to provide their own energy in this way.

Solar Decathlon

The terraced house and NL Green Label sustainable garden will be erected among all the futuristic villas from the other participating countries. The students will have ten days to build the house in Versailles. The Solar Decathlon is a competition between 20 universities from around the world. This edition is taking place between 28 June and 14 July in Versailles, right alongside the palace gardens of the Sun King. The twenty houses must each function unaided for two weeks, powered only by solar energy. The jury will announce which university has won on 12 July.

Collaboration

The construction of the NL Green Label house is made possible thanks to contributions from Delft University of Technology, TBI Holdings, the Energy Leap programme of the Ministry of the Interior, Univé and various material suppliers.