The Solar Decathlon Europe will take place in Wuppertal this year. It is an event organised for architecture students to try out and demonstrate future-oriented ways of building houses. A lot of unusual materials, such as hemp and straw, will be used. The facades will be greened and state-of-the-art heating and ventilation systems will be installed in the houses.
A total of 16 university teams from eleven countries, from France to Taiwan, are putting their visions of sustainable, energy-efficient architecture into practice. The 300 students who have travelled here have spent several years planning how to build the houses of the future. These are to cover their energy needs entirely with solar power they have collected themselves. Climate protection and the energy transition can be experienced here.
From 20 May to 2 June 2022, the student teams will get to work. They will construct the buildings on 50,000 square metres of the Solar Campus on the Nordbahntrasse, which they inaugurated last Thursday with a festival-like atmosphere through loud music and a lot of fun.
From 10 to 26 June 2022, visitors will have the opportunity to tour the climate-friendly buildings. In addition to experience days for universities and school classes as well as guided tours, which will take place every day, there will be an accompanying cultural programme. The participating teams and numerous people involved design this programme entirely themselves.
For the teams, this time is the practical test, in which the students and their work results are closely examined and tested in ten disciplines. These tests will determine the overall winning team of the Solar Decathlon Europe 21/22 on 24 June 2022.
(Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash)