luukku house at the solar decathlon

‘luukku house’ by team finland at the villa solar in madrid, spain image courtesy of design training

team finland from the aalto university has finished the build of the ‘luukku house’ in madrid, spain as their official entry into the first european solar decathlon. luukku, which means ‘an opening’, ‘a hatch’ or, colloquially, ‘a residence’ in finnish, is inspired by the tradition of summerhouses in finland, built almost exclusively out of natural wood. the team’s use of the material and the overall design earned them the highest possible score in the architecture award competition, awarding them a first place win in the category.

the aim of the ‘luukku house’ is to be a zero-energy house with the lowest possible carbon footprint. the compact house utilizes 55 m2 of photovoltaic panels to generate enough energy for all domestic use. there are solar collectors on the roof to passively heat in-house water and a ventilation heat exchanger to reduce the amount of energy needed for climate control. built for a colder climate such as finland, the house uses bio-degradable wood fibre to insulate the house. for the windows, argon-filled glass were chosen for their low u-value, ensuring the least amount of heat loss.

bay window shading image courtesy of aalto university

north facade image courtesy of design training

interior render image courtesy of aalto university

LED light detail image courtesy of aalto university

loading the ‘luukku house’ image courtesy of aalto university

re-assembly image courtesy of aalto university

image courtesy of aalto university

construction image courtesy of aalto university

image courtesy of aalto university

energy diagram image courtesy of aalto university

floor plan image courtesy of aalto university

east facade

west facade

south facade

north facade

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