Parsons The New School for Design and Stevens Institute of Technology Computer-Animated Walkthrough (Text Version)
This is the text version of Parsons The New School for Design and Stevens Institute of Technology's U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 computer-animated walkthrough.
[Text on screen: Siena Shaw, Parsons Architecture student]
Siena Shaw: That's the huge dream, hope; that we actually will be changing the way houses are built.
[A woman is standing in a room with desks and tables in the background. All the desks are covered with architectural models, books, and pieces of paper.]
[Music begins.]
[Text on screen: How do you bring energy-efficient homes to people in the real world?]
[The word Empowerhouse comes onto the screen with an image of a house behind it.]
[Text card on screen: You build a team prepared to see problems and find solutions across a range of specialties.]
[A man is sitting behind a large architectural model, behind him there is a chalkboard and a wall with papers tacked to it, and beside him, two other students working.]
[Text on screen: Nicholas Mundell, Stevens Product Architecture Lab student]
Nicholas Mundell: We've drawn on all the resources available. Engaging and integrating into the process students from across the range of disciplines represented by The New School and Stevens Institute of Technology.
[As the student continues to talk, the scene changes to various photographs of students and faculty.]
[Photo of male student presenting to a large group of seated people. He is standing behind a table holding architectural models.]
[Photo of students and faculty members in front of two chalkboards; images of panels and house elements are written on the board.]
[IMAGE: Photo of a student in front of a chalkboard.]
[Text card on screen reads: You join with people who share your vision.]
[Video of a woman in an office, a row of books is on the wall behind her.]
[Text on screen: Alison Mears, Parsons The New School for Design Professor]
Alison Mears: We want to design a passive house, which uses very little energy, which actually generates energy.
[Illustration of a house separated into its different elements?solar canopy, photovoltaic panels, triple glazed windows, roof garden, rainwater collection, furniture system, highly insulated envelope, solar canopy, light well, mechanical room, planters, water storage.]
Alison Mears: So we're working with three partners: Martine Combal from the District of Columbia's planning office;
[Video of a woman, Martine Combal, standing during a meeting; she is in front of a wall covered with architectural drawings.]
Alison Mears: Dave Gano from Habitat for Humanity;
[Video of a man, Dave Gano, speaking to group of students and faculty during a meeting.]
Alison Mears: and Sylvia Brown, who is a local ANC Commissioner.
[Video of a woman, Sylvia Brown, speaking to group of students and faculty during a meeting.]
[Video of a man talking. He is standing in a room filled with desks which are covered with architectural models, papers and books.]
[Text on screen: Dave Gano, Habitat for Humanity Washington D.C.]
Dave Gano: Already concepts that we're coming up with and working on, we're starting to apply to our building site as we speak.
[Photo of a very large group of people standing in front of a partially-built home.]
[Text card on the screen reads: You take advantage of an opportunity and use that to create something with lasting impact.]
[Text on screen: Steve Scribner, Parsons Architecture student]
Steve Scribner: The Parsons-Stevens team in looking at the Solar Decathlon project really wanted to have our house have an impact beyond the National Mall. So we found a neighborhood in Washington D.C., the Deanwood neighborhood of Ward 7 …
[IMAGE: Photo of an aerial view of Washington D.C. with the National Mall and Gault Place highlighted.]
Steve Scribner: … where the house will be moved after the competition and actually become a home for a family.
[Illustration of the house in its future home on Gault Place. In the drawing, a woman is standing on the front porch, a man is walking on the sidewalk and children are playing in front of the house. Trees line the left side of the drawing.]
Steve Scribner: And that's really exciting for us.
[Text on screen reads: You invest in the right technologies.]
[A man is standing in front of shelves that are holding lights, luminaires, cables, and books.]
[Text on screen: Glenn Fujimura, Parsons Lighting Design student]
Glenn Fujimura: So for us, this whole thing is about being smart, and selecting the right technologies and the right systems that work together to save money and energy at the same time.
[Series of four diagrams/illustrations of passive house concept, a small black house with a thick red line with the words tight and well insulated, a small black house with the sun's rays filtering into it with the words capture the sun's heat, a small black house with a small mechanical system with the words heat recovery. An arrow points to the words 85% heating and cooling savings. A hair dryer is next to the words?meant to indicate that one could heat one's home with a hair dryer.)
Glenn Fujimura: And to do this, we've embraced the Passive House standard, which calls for a highly insulated building envelope and careful attention to details like thermal bridges and air sealing."
[Photo of students and instructors looking at chalkboard that reads Panelization in big letters.]
Glenn Fujimura: We've designed a panelized structural system which can be prefabricated by Habitat for Humanity volunteers and deployed in a large number of different scenarios.
[Video of the panelized system coming together; the separate elements are color-coded and labeled?interior ply finish, lightweight structural members, blown in insulation, exterior OSB sheathing.]
Glenn Fujimura: Now the panel itself is a lightweight highly insulated unit that uses as little wood as possible.
[Video of the house being assembled out of separate parts. The mechanical unit and the floor slide in; the panelized walls wrap around the mechanical unit. The roof and PV are added to form the house.]
Glenn Fujimura: So, the panels come together to form walls; the walls wrap a service core which we drop on site as a single unit and that forms the entire envelope for the building. We think this approach is really interesting.
[Illustration of a house on the National Mall. The Capitol building is in the background. Trees line the walkway. There are a number of people walking around.]
Glenn Fujimura: Ultimately, our goal was to create a system with a life beyond the National Mall.
[Image of the house on The National Mall fades into an image of the house on a residential street. A man is walking on the sidewalk in front of the house, children are playing nearby, and trees line the property.]
[Text on screen reads: You keep your standards high.]
[Text on screen: Amanda Waal, Parsons Architecture student]
Amanda Waal: In addition to designing a solar-powered home that meets the strict requirements of Passive House, it is important to us that we design a house that is beautiful and comfortable for the people who will live in it.
[A woman is sitting at a desk. Behind her are desks covered with books, models and papers.]
[Image of house at sunset appears on the screen. Wood siding covers the side of the building, while interior lights emit a glow. The house turns white, and the camera orbits around it 270 degrees counterclockwise]
Voiceover: The careful placement of windows in the house takes advantage of the sun's heat in order to reduce heating costs and energy demand.
[The angle of the camera changes, and the view begins to approach the house. There is a large front porch. The viewer can see the west and north sides of the house as the camera moves closer to the front door. The underside of the solar canopy is visible, as are the two windows on the north side of the house.]
[The camera advances toward and through the front window, and suddenly the interior of the house is revealed. A large southern-facing window is revealed. There is a large stair on the right. A dining room table and four chairs are near the southern facing window; a couch is against the west wall.]
[As the camera stands still, the 3D dimensional model of the house is cut-away to reveal the inner workings of the wall and interior components of the house design. The cut-away slices back until the view hits the middle of the living room. Camera angle remains still, and components of the house are labeled.]
[Text labels on screen: PV array, triple-glazed windows, mini-split, heat-exchanger, highly insulated, roof garden, custom light fixtures, dinnerware, modular furniture system]
Voiceover: A central stair acts as a hearth and light well, creating a play of daylight within the living space. Bringing light into the home in this way is especially important on lots without much southern exposure.
[The camera stops moving. The room renders into a full-color image of the living space. The sunlight through all the windows move across the floor as it would through the duration of a sunny day. An animated clock on the lower right indicates the duration of time is from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.]
Voiceover: This stair leads out to an occupiable roof garden designed to extend the living space with a semi-outdoor space. This space allows the homeowner to grow food, compost waste, and harvest rainwater as parts of a broader approach to sustainability.
[View of the roof garden. The solar canopy is visible as are the planter boxes.]
[Roof garden comes into a view. A young girl plays with a ball on the east side of the roof; her mother and brother stand nearby. Basil and other plants are growing in the garden boxes behind them. Trees are visible in the distance as well as to the west.]
[The image fades to white, and the camera moves up and away from the house, pausing to show the top of the house.]
[Text on screen: Empowerhouse http://www.empowerhouse-dc.org]
[Music credit: "Daylight" by Matt and Kim]
