Glasshouse Showcase, Gorafe, Spain

Glasshouse Showcase
Glasshouse Showcase

Guardian Glass and OFIS Architects wished to build a glasshouse in Spain's Andalusian desert as a "technology showcase"; The glass manufacturer wants to demonstrate the performance of his special glasses. Transsolar was asked to collaborate for the climate engineering.
Where dwellings have traditionally been dug into the ground, a comfortable fully glazed home with minimized energy consumption was to be designed and built.
The winter temperatures in the Gorafe Desert fall below 0 ° C and rise to 40 ° C in the summer. 20 m² are intended for bedroom, bathroom and living area, the whole set up on a wooden construction.
In the iterative planning process, Transsolar investigated various variants of building typologies using computer simulations. The main criteria in this extreme climate is to provide shade in the summer, but also to allow passive solar gains in winter.
The only energy sources for the house are 26m² photovoltaic and 4m² solar thermal on the roof. An 800-liter water tank stores warm water; a 15 kWh battery is sufficient for 1.5 days of building operation: The lamps, hot plate, fridge, kettle, WLAN, coffee maker are fed from the electricity storage in the house.
The most critical case at this location is winter, when the house must be kept at 18 ° C, but the solar radiation is much lower than in mid-summer.
Key elements of the climate concept are shading, natural ventilation and in summer air movement generated by fans. For heating in winter, a decentralized recirculation unit is used. This is also used in summertime for peak cooling.
more by Guardian >
BBC video with statements >