The Interlock House. Sure it may sound a little dark and maybe even eerie, but this structure is almost exactly the opposite. Planned, designed, assembled, disassembled and then reassembled again by students and faculty at Iowa State University in Ames, the 800 square feet solar house is light, airy and incredibly energy efficient. Well, that's according to my standards anyway...the team will learn just how their design stacks up against 19 other inter/national entries in Washington, D.C. at the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon in October. A decathlon you ask? Well, the name stems from ten varied contests to determine the winning solar house. These include: architecture, market viability, engineering, lighting design, communications, hot water, appliances, home entertainment, comfort zone and energy balance (bonus points for energy surplus!). The decathletes (as the students are called) even have to throw an eight-person dinner party to show off the usability of their house. Of course, the menu includes Iowa-raised produce and meat--lots of butternut squash, corn and pork! The team consists of 17 faculty members and more than 75 students studying architecture, various forms of engineering, journalism, furniture design, fabrication design, ceramics and 3-D animation. While I chatted mostly with the construction students, I admired the amazing cabinetry (which was built by students at Des Moines Area Community College) and some rad ceramic tiles awaiting installation. Separated into six different modules, the Interlock House will travel to D.C. on three wide-load flatbed trailers. While other teams develop narrower structures for easier transport, the ISU team wanted to make the first ADA accessible house in the competition. Which in turn makes the bathroom much larger than my real one… I chatted with project manager Aaron Brncich about various aspects of the solar house, and then had him re-explain everything again. What can I say? I haven't built anything substantially sized since the homecoming float I worked on four years ago! He was most excited about the thermally broken walls the team developed. Now if my notes hold true, these walls modified the traditional structure with 2x2 scrap pieces of wood attached horizontally to the studs. This essentially takes away the conductive paths that are usually found in walls, and also makes it both more efficient and easier to install utilities because the shafts are already there, by design. On another note, the Interlock House is expected to produce 1100kWh of electricity per month and use only 600 kWh of that. While normal consumers really don't benefit from surplus energy, this could net the ISU team 50 extra points in the competition. (Image: Instructor Ulrike Passe and Project Manager Aaron Brncich) My favorite part of the house was probably the louvers, which can be manipulated to block out the sun on the south-facing side and are coated with a thin solar panel film to maximize solar energy. Oh, and they look very pretty. The roof houses the solar array and rain collection system. And you don’t even notice the gutters because they are so nicely integrated. Two thumbs up. The door to the south-facing porch is called a Nanawall. Aaron described it as a thermally efficient glass curtain, and he couldn’t have been more correct. The counter tops are concrete filled with broken glass beer bottles. (Oh, those college students!) The surface is really quite striking. The radiant subfloor is actually a thin layer of aluminum on top of routed plywood. Then, the orange track is laid in the troughs and dark bamboo flooring tops it off (it won’t actually be fully installed until the team gets to D.C.). The ISU decathletes arrive in D.C. in about three weeks and then have to reassemble the Interlock House in just seven days. When I asked about the competition, Aaron said that he knows a few things about other teams, but he didn't seem worried. If I had to make a guess, I think that the ISU team will lock. it. up.

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