The Project

The Alberta Solar Decathlon Team’s design seamlessly integrates sustainability and solar design principles and technologies in an attractive, efficient home for people to live, work and play. Our design responds to and reflects the landscape of Alberta and western Canada, by synthesizing four elements: wood, water, stone and light.

The essence of this landscape is embodied in the jagged peaks of the Rocky Mountains and glacier-fed rivers running through vast forests dappled with light and shadow. These conceptual imperatives produced a design that incorporates a fundamental element of the Canadian Rocky Mountain lodge vernacular: wooden post-and-beam construction. A modular layout of timber posts and beams blends poetics with pragmatic considerations.

The open-plan concept has several points of interest, including a centrally located services core for the kitchen and bath areas as well as a rooftop garden and terrace for dwelling. We have created a design that is eminently livable, adaptable and sustainable, and is also readily transportable to the National Mall for the competition.