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The technology that makes LISI an eco-friendly model-building is almost invisible. Many visitors do not even notice the tiny engineering room, all the photovoltaics is hidden on the roof, and only a few slits in the floor show that there is a ventilation system. Nevertheless, the technological aspect of the project plays a crucial role. From the very beginning, architecture and engineering had to work hand in hand, otherwise developing an aethetically pleasing plus-energy-house would not have been possible.

There is a lot LISI has to offer when it comes to technology: „Our ventilation system in the floor, which can both heat and cool the room, is definitely remarkable“, says Sabrina Novalin. She studied at TU Vienna, is now working for AIT, and she was one of the masterminds behind the technological concept of LISI. Cold water can be pumped into the pipes in the floor. Air flows past these pipes, cools down and is pumped into the room. In addition to that, the drawing-off air from the warm water heat pump is used to cool the room: The pump produces hot water and cold, dehumidified air, which can be pumped into the house.

The bathroom has a very special feature as well: „Usually, warm water from the shower just goes down the drain – but we wanted to harness its energy“, says Sabrina Novalin. The warm waste water goes into a heat exchanging device, directly in the shower tray: The arriving cold water is pre-heated by the waste water so that less hot water has to be added to arrive at the desired temperature. Also, the building’s warm water tank is pre-heated with waste water from the shower.

There is not only a heat exchanging system for water, but also for air: On cold days, the warm outgoing air heats up the incoming cold air from outside. The heating system just hast to further increase the temperature of the pre-heated air, it does not have to deal with ice cold winter air. The heat exchange system also regulates the humidity: Special materials, which can absorb and release humidity, are used to regulate the indoor climate.

No new technological components had to be developed for LISI. „If we had done that, it would have made the house much more expensive. Apart from that, it does not make sense to give the customers experimental prototypes, which cannot even be properly installed by their local plumber“, says Sabrina Novalin. The big challenge was to assemble the right components and create a complete system in which all the parts work together. It would be easy just to install and show off some fancy piece of equipment – but this has nothing to do with sustainability. Only when all the components complement each other perfectly, the house can be eco-friendly and pleasant to live in.
We know from the public tours at the Solar Decathlon that quite different people from various age groups are equally enthusiastic about LISI. But of course there is a specific audience which is targeted by this building concept. After all, marketability is one of the ten criteria of the competition.

LISI is not a large family home, it is designed for two people – for young, modern couples who put a lot of emphasis on a green lifestyle, or older couples whose kids have moved out.

In Vienna, an interesting development can be observed today, which could have a great influence on LISI’s maketability: Community gardens are turned into residential areas. In the 1920s and 1930s, large areas were made available for individual gardening. These areas were not meant to be inhabited, the idea was to give the urban population a chance to grow vegetables and produce food.

Today, there is no fear of food shortages any more, but the demand of urban living space is increasing. Therefore, many community gardens are rededicated. It is now allowed to live there permanently, but there are size restrictions on the houses which are built in these areas. This way, a demand for small, detached houses for an urban target audience is created – that is where LISI could do very well.

Another great opportunity for a house like LISI is tourism: There is an increasing number of hotels, which do not only provide their guests with a room, but with a suite in a separate building. An ensemble of LISI houses could be a futuristic and energy efficient way of building hotels.

LISI is currently standing in Orange County Great Park. If you are in the vicinity, do come by and visit Team Austria.



Team Austria posing infront of LISI.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/01_finished-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

The southern patio.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/02_finished-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

South East view of LISI.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/03_finished-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

LISI's ramp with posters.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/04_finished-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

LISI's posters and haptic path.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/05_finished-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Interior of the service core. Home Entertainment.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/06_finished-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

The white couch in the middle of our living area.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/07_finished-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

In the background, the white couch. In the foreground, the standing lamp.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/08_finished-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Another view from the interior. Showing the couch.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/09_finished-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

A picture of the bedroom. In the back, you can see the bathroom.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/IMG_3098-360x240.jpg 360w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Another shot of the kitchen core. You can see the TV.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/DSC_5113-384x240.jpg 384w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Close up view of the stove.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/DSC_5082-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

On the left, the long dining table with 9 chairs. On the right, the couch.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/MG_3312-360x240.jpg 360w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Nice shot of the dining table.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/MG_3253-360x240.jpg 360w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Final exterior shot. Curtain blowing in the wind.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/10_finished-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

LISI consists of more than 90% of wood. Starting with conventional construction wood, LISI also uses wood fiber and cellulose as thermal insulation and tree bark as wall finishing. Even her furniture makes use of this raw material. LISI combines virtually all parts of the tree – from the bark to the core.

With the support of the company Organoid, ten chairs were made from tree bark. A prototype of this model was developed through extensive experiments – we had to find the optimal mix between the right shape of the seat shell and the bark and binders. Over the course of several months, decathletes Verena, Daniel and Christian were able to manufacture these chairs. They now adorn LISI’s dining table and can be admired starting tomorrow at the Solar Decathlon 2013 in Orange County Great Park / Irvine,CA.



Macroshot of several chairs.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/01_chair-360x240.jpg 360w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Daniel and Verena constructing chairs.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/02_chair-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

A raw model of the first chair.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/03_chair-320x240.jpg 320w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Verena sanding a chair.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/04_chair-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Manufacturing the outside of a chair. https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/05_chair-320x240.jpg 320w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

The table and chairs are set. https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/06_chair-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Closeup of cuttlery.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/07_chair-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

A table full with food. Bread and prosciutto.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/08_chair-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Mood picture showing a tomato and oil.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/09_chair-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Where is the dividing line between indoors and outdoors? When you are looking at LISI, Team Austria’s building at the Solar Decathlon, this is very hard to say. The main architectural idea of the building is the seamless connction between the spacious living room and the patios in the north and south of the building. When the weather is nice, the glass front on either side can vanish into the wall and a partly roofed living space is created, which is about twice as large as the interior alone.

The floor plan is quite simple: LISI was designed in such a way that the open area for living, cooking and dining is as large as possible. Bathroom, bedroom and the engineering room on the other hand are rather small.

LISI is almost entirely made of wood. Therefore it is fitting that also the architectural concept is inspired by trees: Much like the trunk of a tree, which transports water and provides structural stability, the module consisting of the bathroom, the bedroom and the engineering room forms the core of the house and is rooted in the wooden groundwork.

The structural elements of the exterior wall define the visible form of the house, similar to the large branches of a tree. Instead of leaves, LISI has white wavy curtains made of a robust, weather-proof material. They can be drawn to create a private space, or they can be pushed aside to open the house up.
Building an eco-friendly house is not only about photovoltaics and energy efficiency. Team Austria put much emphasis on selecting the right materials. More than 90% of LISI is made of wood. This is one of the main reasons why it is such an excellent example of eco-friendly construction.

„Everything that can be made of wood has been made of wood in our house“, says team leader Karin Stieldorf. The structural elements, the walls, the ceiling and even the bathroom interior is made of wood. Team Austria shows that almost the entire tree can be used: Scrap wood, which would normally be thrown away, can be chaffed and made into chairs. Defibered wood can be used for thermal insulation, even the bark can be utilized.

In Austria, timber construction has become more and more popular in recent years – and for good reasons: „Wood has excellent thermal properties, it is very good for insulation“, says Karin Stieldorf. „And the main point is: It is renewable and eco-friendly.“

Together with the „Gruppe Angepasste Technologie“ (GrAT) at TU Vienna, life cycle analyses have been done for various materials. The carbon footprint and the global warming potential was calculated. The team analyzed to what extent gases are emitted in the production of the material, which can then lead to acid rain. Wood turned out to do extremely well in such evaluations.

There is no need to worry about the durability of wooden buildings: „Well-built timber work lasts for a long time. You just need the know-how to do it“, says Karin Stieldorf.
Cities here in Southern California are quite different from European metropolitan areas. That is an observation, every European participant at the Solar Decathlon is bound to make. Instead of densely populated city centers there are large suburban areas. Instead of walking to the supermarket around the corner, people take the car to go the the shopping mall.

Obviously, different traditions exist in city planning. Architecture hast to take that into account, also at the Solar Decathlon. „The concept of the competition, creating small eco-friendly houses, has been critizised“, says Karin Stieldorf. „Actually it is more enery efficient to build larger houses with several appartments.“ The ratio of volume and surface is less favourable in smaller building, heat can easily escape into the environment.

A lower population density entails problems: Large residential areas are required, longer distances have to be travelled, the traffic increases. „At the Vienna University of Technology, coming up with new concepts for tomorrow’s smart cities is an important area of research“, says Karin Stieldorf. The knowledge from this line of research has also influenced LISI, the Austrian house at the Solar Decathlon.

LISI has been designed so that several such houses could be joined, creating a larger block. This increases the population density while still providing each house with porches and a garden. The outer skin of the house provides privacy, for a big barbecue together with the neighbours, it can be pushed away, creating a joint open space.

Urban planning will also be the topic of the conference „Meeting the Urbanization Challenge“ at the Austrian Science Talks, which are organized by the Austrian Office of Science and Technology in Los Angeles on October 11. Karin Stieldorf will present LISI to an international audience there.

We present to you the third and final video of our 9 day assembly time. It covers the three last days including installing all finishes, setting up the interior as well as cleaning of the construction site. Enjoy!

Video by Peter Bessler, Dietmar Hatzenbichler, Wolfgang Hüller. For Solar Decathlon Team Austria -–University of Applied Sciences St Poelten, Vienna University of Technology, University of Applied Sciences Salzburg Campus Kuchl, Austrian Institute of Technology, www.solardecathlon.at

LISI, Team Austria’s house, was designed to look elegant, simple and inviting. To the untrained eye, it may not look like a high-tech building. „What matters in architecture is the people“, says Karin Stieldorf, the Austrian team leader. „Of course, technology is important too, it has to work perfectly, but we do not show it off.“

The visitors’ attention is not directed to technological devices, cables and sensors, but to simple wooden surfaces. While other teams at the Solar Decathlon use a considerable portion of the building’s space for building equipment and appliances, the size of the engineering room in the Austrian house is quite modest. Most of the other houses have photovoltaics which is clearly visible from the street, LISI’s photovoltaics can only be seen from above. „Using photovoltaics used to be a statement, something to show off. Today, it should be something completely normal, we do not need to display it any more“, says Karin Stieldorf.

Eco-friendly architecture does not need to have „eco“ written all over it – that is what team Austria wants to show. The fact that LISI is a great example of sustainable architecture will be proven by tests and measurements, there is no need for constantly visible reminders. Therefore, the architecture of LISI is more about understatement and simplicity. The visitors at Solar Decathlon seem to enjoy that, we can only hope that the jury likes it too.

The Solar Decathlon takes ten days and it consists of ten different contests. In each contest, a maximum of one hundred points can be gained. The scoring, however, works differently in different categories.

There are five “measured categories”: In the comfort zone contest, the teams have to keep the temperature and humidity in their houses steady. In the hot water contest, the teams have to show that their house generates more than enough hot water to take a nice shower: 56.8 liters of hot water have to be produced within ten minutes. For the appliances contest, sensors monitor constantly, whether refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher, the washing machine and the dryer work the way they should. Over the course of the competition, every house has to produce more electrical energy than it uses to gain the full score in the energy balance contest.

A home is not really a home if you cannot invite your friends over. That is why there is also the home entertainment competition. The teams have to hold dinner parties and a movie night for a group of guests.

Some important criteria cannot be defined by numbers. Five of the Solar Decathlon contests are decided by a jury: In the architecture contest, points are awarded for the quality of the design, a jury of professional engineers will evaluate the technology used in the houses in the engineering competition. Another jury will assess the market appeal of the building: Each team had to define target groups for their house. Points will be awarded if the jury thinks that the house is marketable and appeals to the target group. In the affordability contest, a jury will estimate the total cost of the house. It should be $250,000 or less to get a full score.

The communications contest assesses how well the project is presented. This includes the on-site tours through the house, but also the website and printed material.

The measured contests have already started: Several sensors pick up data around the clock. The decisive phase of the contest, however, will be the announcement of the scores awarded by the juries on Oct. 10 and Oct. 11. The points from each category are added up – and then, some points may be subtracted, for instance for not having completed the building in time. Team Austria was in fact one of the few teams which managed to complete their building in the allowed nine day period.

Here’s the second video of a three part exploration of Team Austria’s construction period. The days four to six have shown some amazing progress.

Video by Peter Bessler, Dietmar Hatzenbichler, Wolfgang Hüller. For Solar Decathlon Team Austria -–University of Applied Sciences St Poelten, Vienna University of Technology, University of Applied Sciences Salzburg Campus Kuchl, Austrian Institute of Technology, www.solardecathlon.at

The last day of the construction has begun. By 12 o’clock midday, LISI has to be finished, decorated and polished.
Everybody rallied one more time. The entire Solar Decathlon Team Austria was present at the building site in order to finalize LISI. While the terrace was still receiving its final touch and presentation posters were mounted by the ramp, other decathletes were busy in the interior decorating and cleaning the large glass sliding windows. The remaining shipping boxes and tools were removed from the building site in no time and deposited on a nearby parking lot.

Five minutes to 12, everybody was shuffling around LISI. The curtain was plucked, plants were draped; a final control look. The clock struck 12. Finished! We did it!
The competition may start. We are ready!



Decathlete Wolfgang is giving the terrace a final polishing.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/01_constday9-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Two decathletes cleaning the construction site.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/02_constday9-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

When looking at the interior, there are lots of busy people shuffling.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/03_constday9-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Walking slowly with the pallet truck.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/04_constday9-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

A vacuum cleaning in the foreground, LISI in the back.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/05_constday9-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Pushing unnecessary equipment off site.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/06_constday9-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Walking alongside our van on the runway.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/07_constday9-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Decathlete Dieter running with the palette trolley.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/08_constday9-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Six LISI containers stored in the distance.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/09_constday9-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Pulling stuff off site.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/10_constday9-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Gregor and Claus driving two forklifts.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/11_constday9-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Pulling stuff off site.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/12_constday9-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

Decathlete Philipp running back with a wood board.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/13_constday9-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

LISI is finishedhttps://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/14_constday9-361x240.jpg 361w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

LISI is finished.https://www.solardecathlon.at/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/15_constday9-359x240.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 920px) 100vw, 920px" />

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