Santa Clara University partnered with the California College of the Arts to integrate design and technology into a beautiful, functional house. The Santa Clara University team includes volunteers, students who receive course credit, and students hired over the summer to work. California College of the Arts students get credit for work on a semester-by-semester basis. The core team membership is between 20 and 30 students, with about 200 students contributing in some way over the design and construction process.
The difficulty of the design process taught the team valuable lessons about how different disciplines communicate. "Based on these lessons, the core team is now working very well together," says Santa Clara University student and Project Manager Allison Kopf.
The team designed a unique system to get guests interested in the technology before they even enter the house. Information panels pose questions about the technologies, and guests can text a code or scan a barcode with their phones. They then receive answers as well as more information sent directly to their device.
"The beauty of California comes through in this design and the use of windows," says Kopf. The bent design takes maximum advantage of south-facing vistas from the inside, making it seem larger. The patio area is incorporated visually into the house space.
"During the summer, you can leave the doors open and your 800-ft2 house becomes much larger," says Santa Clara University Engineering Team Leader Timothy Sennott. "The courtyard and the rear deck become part of your living experience."
Refract House, as the team refers to its creation, takes full advantage of the sunny California climate. The passive solar design virtually eliminates the need for heating. A cutting-edge, solar thermal absorption chiller supplies radiant cooling panels. Waste heat from the chiller preheats water for the solar hot water system. And of course, the roof is an unbroken plane of photovoltaic (PV) panels that provides electricity from the sun.
Refract House blends beauty with function. It includes: