A group of NDSU architecture students is designing a four-person cabin so energy-efficient, it does not need a traditional furnace or air conditioner. Their design work, including drawings, architectural models and information, will be publicly exhibited Friday, May 6, from 1:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at NDSU’s Renaissance Hall, 650 NP Ave., Fargo. Students and faculty from the Design Build Studio will be available to answer questions. At 5:30 p.m., there will be a short presentation, followed by live music and food. The event is open to the public.
The completed cabin will be constructed at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair, where it will be seen by more than 300,000 fairgoers. The student-designed cabin, also called the Demonstration House, will be heated by the energy equivalent of six light bulbs, and will make use of many “free” passive heat sources such as the heat generated by its occupants, the waste heat from appliances, passive heat from the earth and the heat from the sun. During the summer, the cabin will be shaded and naturally air-cooled. The cabin will be ventilated continuously in all seasons to have the best-tested air quality possible in enclosed structures.
“The students have demonstrated immense creativity and spirit of innovation under very restrictive budget and strict performance goals,” said Design Build Studio instructor Malini Srivastava. She was invited by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to design and build a Demonstration House at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair, exhibiting Passive House Performance Criteria.
As part of the Eco-Experience exhibit at the fair, the Demonstration House – suited to a Northern Minnesota climate – will educate fairgoers about state-of-the-art concepts in energy efficiency in the built environment. NDSU students are now ending the design phase and they will continue into the build phase this summer, constructing the Demonstration House at the 2011 Minnesota State Fair.
The Design Build Studio is the first Passive House to be built and demonstrated at the fair, according to Srivastava. This is also the first time that the MPCA has invited a student group to participate in the Eco-Experience, a major annual event concerning energy education. NDSU architecture students from North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Malaysia are participating in the project.
Srivastava, an adjunct member of the NDSU architecture program faculty, a registered architect and a certified passive house consultant with Fargo’s Design and Energy Laboratory, has led the Design Build Studio since January.
NDSU architecture students have researched several measurement systems to achieve deep energy cuts and resource efficiency for the house. The strict Passive House Performance Criteria constitute the students’ primary focus. Through Passive House energy modeling, designers can optimize operational energy use, resource efficiency and carbon content.
This is the inaugural year of the Design Build Studio at NDSU and students are relying on cash and in-kind donations from the public to construct the Demonstration House at the Minnesota State Fair. For more information, contact malini.srivastava@ndsu.edu.
