University of Maryland Computer-Animated Walkthrough (Text Version)

This is the text version of the University of Maryland's U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 computer-animated walkthrough.

[Light woodwind music starts as an image fades in of the sun rising over the Chesapeake Bay. Music continues in the background as the script begins. The images transition from a fishing boat in the Chesapeake Bay to an image of light sparkling on the bay. As the script is read, the images continue to transition, illustrating the character of the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed, including birds flying across the bay as the sun sets in the background and a satellite map of the Chesapeake Bay. A diagram is shown to illustrate the actual geographic area of the watershed. Images of a town on the bay and an inland area of the watershed round out the imagery depicting the bay's character.]

Voiceover: The Chesapeake Bay. The largest estuary in the United States. Home to more than 3,600 plant, fish, and animal species. The Chesapeake Bay watershed is home to more than 16.6 million people. Runoff from cities, towns, power plants, and farms contains nutrients and chemicals that adversely impact the subtle ecological balance of the bay.

[Image transitions to an aerial shot of WaterShed that cranes down to a view of the house from the western side looking directly east into the water axis.]

Voiceover: At the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon 2011, the University of Maryland will introduce a house that not only harvests its energy from the sun but also demonstrates ways in which human settlements can be designed to help protect this precious ecosystem.

[From the entrance deck, the image pans to the front door. The image changes to a flyover of the house along the central water axis.]

Voiceover: Inspired by its namesake, WaterShed is a micro-scale ecosystem that draws its energy from the sun, its life from the wind and rain, and recycles its waste into usable nutrients.

[The image changes to an interior shot of the bathroom looking out to the constructed wetland along the water axis. The camera moves from the edible garden to the deck outside of the kitchen.]

Voiceover: The house is designed to promote a sustainable lifestyle, one that functions in harmony with the natural environment around it.

[A diagram that describes the living systems of the house?including the constructed wetlands, green roof, landscaping, and edible garden?is shown.]

Voiceover: WaterShed is organized around a central water axis. The green roof, constructed wetlands, and native landscaping store and filter rain and grey water. This processed water can then be used for irrigation or released slowly back into the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

[The camera moves from the kitchen deck to the kitchen and then to the living room, showing connections between inside and out.]

Voiceover: These systems are integral to WaterShed and subtly remind its residents of the natural processes that surround them.

[A diagram describes the shed form of the roof, the separate modules of the house, and the bathroom that bridges the modules.]

Voiceover: WaterShed's split butterfly form captures and directs rain to the constructed wetlands. Each shed form is an independent module. The bathroom which connects them is both a part of the water axis and a bridge between the two modules.

[The camera pans across the living room, down the hall, past the bathroom, and into the office and bedroom.]

Voiceover: Form and function are essential to maximize the potential of a great living space. WaterShed uses an open floor plan while still maintaining distinct spaces to integrate living, working, and playing seamlessly.

[A diagram describes some of the engineering systems, including the mechanical core, the liquid desiccant walls, the solar thermal array, and the solar PV roof.]

Voiceover: Mechanical, electrical, and automated control systems are literally at the core of the WaterShed design. Each of the various systems within the house are designed to function collaboratively, effectively, and efficiently.

[The camera flies around the house from east to west, giving an overview of the exterior.]

Voiceover: WaterShed is a house as ecosystem, an answer to today's many questions on how to build a more sustainable future. By understanding WaterShed, one understands the natural processes, which leads to the epiphany that everything is connected. WaterShed is the embodiment of the ideal home that suits the needs of nature and humans and provides the way for development downstream.

[The closing shot is of the Chesapeake Bay looking over grassland to the water at the setting sun.]