Cardenal Herrera’s Solar House equipped with a façade from Onyx can be visited at Venice Biennial

The SML solar house, designed and built by architecture students from the Cardenal Herrera University and equipped with a PV façade from Onyx Solar for the Solar Decathlon Europe, can be visited at Venice Biennial in the Spanish Pavilion. The house, which only uses solar energy to satisfy its energy demand, was first among the Spanish universities and the most voted house by the 190.000 visitors who attended the competition held in Madrid in June.

During the competition, organized by the American Energy Department and the Spanish Housing Ministry with the participation of 17 universities from all over the World, the SML house obtained the first prize for Industrialization and Market Feasability, and was also remarked by the judges in the category “Architecture, Engineering and Innovation”. Those successes motivated the invitation to be part of the Spanish Pavilion during Venice Biennial.

Photovoltaic Conference 2010-09-06

Also during september, a scale model of the SML solar house will be exhibited at the 5^th World Photovoltaic Conference. This year, the conference will be held in Valencia from September, 6^th to 10^th and the SML house model will be exhibited at Schneider Electric booth, as it was one of the companies sponsoring the house during the Solar Decathlon Europe 2010.

New Content on Our Profiles

We have uploaded new content on our profile on YouTube and Facebook. You can see the new video right here or visit our YouTube Channel. In Facebook we have uploaded pictures of the SML House so you can check the house on details. I think they are all great pictures and you should spend two minutes seeing them. Click here to go to our Facebook page and see the pictures. And, of course, if you like what you see, say it to your friends by clicking the “Like” button!

Cardenal Herrera’s Solar House, With a Ventilated Façade Developed by Onyx Solar, Obtains the First Prize for Market Feasability

Onyx Solar PV Ventilated Façade for the SML House

The Solar House built by the Cardenal Herrera University, in which Onyx Solar participated designing and executing a photovoltaic ventilated façade, obtained the first prize for Market Feasability during the Solar Decathlon  Europe held in Madrid last week. What’s more, the SML House was the most voted project among the 190.000 visitors who went to the “Solar Villa” to observe the last tendencies on sustainable architecture.

The Spanish Prince visiting SML House with Onyx façade

These two recognitions show that Onyx Solar constructive solutions are not only aesthetically attractive but also feasable from an economic point of view. The prize is maybe the most important as it’s the objective of the competition to test new measures that can be after applied in real life by architects in their projects on a daily basis. Thus, it’s demonstrated that the PV ventilated façade has great potential from the supply side (economical feasibility) as well as the demand side (the most voted house among visitors). Also, the SML House was the only project from a Spanish University visited by the Spanish Prince, as seen in the image above.

Finally, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University was the winner. It wasn’t a surprise as they have been working on the house for the last five years and they finally got a recognition for their work after not winning any of the previous four editions. The Cardenal Herrera University finalized first among Spanish institutions.