The University of Texas at Austin, 2002 Solar Decathlon House
Design Team: The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture and CMPBS

The house was designed and constructed by a group from The University of Texas School of Architecture in conjunction with The Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS) for the first ever Solar Decathlon in 2002.  The parti of the house is a dogtrot scheme in which we separated the two sides of the house to create outdoor "rooms".  The energy loads were reduced by integrating passive heating, natural ventilation and daylighting along with the photovoltaic system and hot-water tubes.  The design features an Open-Building System using a "kit of parts" that sits lightly on the land and forms the superstructure around a mobile utility unit (the Airstream trailer).  The Airstream houses all the "wet" rooms of the house-the kitchen and bath. The team dubbed this the "Mobility Utility Unit" or MUU.  The land-locked sections include the living room, office and bedroom.  Between the trailer and land-anchored sections of the house runs a breezy deck area for everyone to enjoy the great outdoors.  The modular design of these pieces means that they can be added or removed easily.