tenio works toward green self-sufficiency in rural beijing suburb with its zero house

chinese architecture practice tenio presents its zero house, a dwelling in a residential neighborhood outside beijing. the project seeks to address the loss of indigenous resident in the rural areas of china, and to improve residential comfort and realize energy self-sufficiency through a green transformation. the design team’s main goal is to explore the technical possibilities and ease of construction, aiming toward a zero energy rural house reconstruction.to achieve this goal, the team responds to the climate conditions of the rural context, and employs passive strategies to achieve minimum energy requirement. the house performs with multiple methods of solar energy and is realized with prefabricated modules which were assembled on site.

images by tenio

tenio realizes its zero house to operate with ultra-low energy consumption and a modular assembly. the building has improved the nearly zero energy building space system that is suitable for the single-story courtyard layout. the courtyard divides the building into three parts of simple shapes, and air-tightness units are connected with passive house and stairwell wind tower to enhance heat radiation in winter and guide the natural ventilation in transitional seasons.

the tenio-designed zero house in beijing is an experiment of low-cost assembled residential modules. the composite model comprises of a light steel system and OSB board, with two types of thermal insulation materials to ensure the system’s heat transfer coefficient and airtightness. the standard residential modules from the structure to the interior decoration are completed in the factory, and three modules are combined to a residential unit of complete functions on site. the sloping roof uses skylights to achieve natural lighting and uses photovoltaic tiles to provide electric energy.

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project info:

project title: zero house

architecture: tenio

location: beijing, china