Y-Team’s Solar house preserved as Winter Olympic City demonstration project after 1 year’s preparation and 32 days’ construction

Y-team, including 10 Zhejiang University-University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Institute (ZJUI) students, has been selected as one of the 15 finalists of Solar Decathlon China 2021. ZJUI Assistant Professor Cristoforo Demartino and Qiushi Distinguished Professor XIAO Yan are advised and in charge of the structure group of this team. The international partnership of Y-team comprises Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (Suzhou, Jiangsu, China), Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia, USA), and Zhejiang University–University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Joint Institute (Haining, Zhejiang, China). As one of the 15 finalist teams, Y-Team, together with teams from 10 countries and 29 universities around the world, gathered in Zhangjiakou, the Olympic Star City, to build green buildings to create a more environmentally friendly, smart, and dynamic future world, providing solutions from the energy and construction industries. The houses built by each team also take the new rural construction, Winter Olympic services, aging living, and grassland culture as creative starting points, and combine technologies such as renewable energy utilization and near-zero energy consumption communities to carry out localized design and application of green buildings. These houses will also continue to be preserved as a demonstration facility in Zhangjiakou, as living labs of the National Renewable Energy Demonstrative Zone, and as models for regional sustainable development.

The Y-Team is a cross-disciplinary team composed of more than 100 members from three universities in different countries, dedicated to combining the best design and technology from China and the West, aiming to combine solar energy, energy-saving, and architectural design. They have designed and built a state-of-the-art solar house, showcasing the most advanced building technologies, control systems, and design strategies while spreading the concept of green, low-carbon and sustainable development as far as they can.

▲ Y-Team building in in the Olympic Star City Zhangjiakou

The Y-Team was established in September 2020 and were divided into many groups: structure, architecture, landscape, HVAC, and interactive-AR. After one year of preparation, the scheme design and report writing were completed, and the roadshow was carried out in Suzhou, Nanjing and other important cities. From September to October 2021, members of the Y-Team went to Zhangjiakou use only 32 days to build the house.

▲ SDC Decathlon Indicator

Solar Decathlon is a worldwide renowned collegiate competition initiated by the US Department of Energy in 2002, and successfully inaugurated in China in 2013. The third Solar Decathlon China (SDC) event held in the Olympic Star City Zhangjiakou since September 2021. The competition requires each team to design, build and operate a high-performance full-scale house powered by solar energy, participate in ten indicators. SDC is organized by China Overseas Development Association and supported by the School Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. With global universities as participants, and based on technologies and ideas of world-leading R&D teams, SDC is established to create a fully functional, comfortable, livable, and sustainable living space.

Bio-based materials for the structural design

The ZJUI team is mainly responsible for the structure group, which is guided by ZJUI Assistant Professor Cristoforo Demartino and Qiushi Distinguished Professor XIAO Yan. ZJUI graduate students ZHANG Qiu and ZHOU Chenyu, undergraduate graduates PAN Hongyi, DONG Siyi, undergraduates TANG Zheyi, YAN Xiaoyu, ZHENG Ziyan, research assistant ZHOU Sicheng and others worked together to develop and innovate, and participated in many important tasks such as structural calculation, model construction, material processing, and on-site assembly.

The main materials used in this project are all bio-based and were processed at the Zhejiang University Joint Research Center for Bio-based Materials and Carbon Neutral Development (Ninghai). The main structural parts (beam-column frame system) are all made of new bamboo-based composite materials developed by Professor Xiao's team. Straw and straw are used as thermal insulation materials for filling walls, floors, and ceilings.

▲ ZJUI students at the construction site

In addition, YAO Wentao, a ZJUI undergraduate student majoring in computer engineering, and LI Chenhao, an undergraduate student majoring in electrical engineering, also participated in the Y-Team Interactive-AR group, integrating computer vision, graphics, and industrial design by technology and art. Finally, a smart home system has been created by this group to enhance the living experience.

Voice of members of the Y-team

▲ Some members of the Y-Team

Hongyi Pan (CE1701)

The solar decathlon competition was a meaningful experience for me, bringing what I learned from the university to the real project. I learned a lot from the project including designing, material processing, and construction, which can hardly learn from textbooks. During the designing part, I learned how to apply the codes to the design, how to use different software to analyze the structure, and how to draw the final construction drawing which can meet the requirement from the design institute. During the factory and construction time, I learned how to realize the structure by the drawings, and how to communicate with members from different parts of the team. Thanks for the great project, it was a really good opportunity for me. Thanks for the powerful professors and hardworking teammates, they really gave me great support during the projects.

Siyi Dong (CE1701)

Y project is our team's exploration of bio-based sustainable structures after the continuous innovation and improvement over the past one year. Structural design has the functions of ensuring the safety of a house and achieving the architectural purpose. Under the premise of practicability, construction cost, logistics, sustainability, etc., how to apply theoretical knowledge into actual engineering projects and adjust the structure according to the requirements from other teams of designers is as significant as enhancing structural analysis skills in our study of civil engineering.

Zheyi Tang (CE1901)

In this competition, AS a member of the structure team, I completed the 3D modeling of the structure and the structure construction drawings together with my teammates. This has improved my knowledge of new environmentally friendly building materials and rendered me a fuller understanding of sustainable living Spaces. We have witnessed the process of self-designed solar house from planar to three-dimensional, and also follow the development of sustainable architecture from now to the future.

Xiaoyu Yan(CE 1901)

The solar decathlon competition provides us a precious platform to apply our professional knowledge into practice, giving me a profound understanding of structure design and sustainable development. From structural calculation, modeling, drawing, to material production and construction, this series of processes are complicated and it needs to meet the goals of safety, efficiency, and sustainability. I learned a lot in cooperation with teammates in different fields, such as architecture, facade design and so on. Also, I am grateful for the instruction given by dear professor Yan Xiao and Cristoforo Demartino, who always work with us and give us precious suggestions.

Zihan Zheng (CE 1901)

Very grateful to all off my partners and instructors. In this project, my main job is drawing design drawings, from which I have learned a lot. My professional knowledge gradually became a whole, my ability to use knowledge became stronger, my state of mind when facing problems also became much more positive. Doing projects is just like living, learning while growing, chewing and repeating, so as to taste the joys at last.

Wentao Yao (ECE1901)

I am very happy and honored to be involved in this project. In cooperation with Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, we are mainly responsible for the control of smart desktops through computer vision methods. In the process of participating in this project, we not only improved our academic literacy, but also exercised our ability to solve practical problems. At the same time, the cooperation with the students majoring in industrial design at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University has also enabled us to improve the ability of interdisciplinary cooperation and communication. Through this project, We have a deeper insight into advanced technology, and also know the importance of interdisciplinary cooperation.

Chenhao Li(EE 1901)

In this project, we mainly capture the state of objects through visual sensors to control of desktop functions. We use intelligent systems and projection technology to provide a more powerful interactive experience and digital human-computer interaction. This competition allows us to appreciate the charm of design disciplines, and also get practical opportunities for interdisciplinary cooperation. 

Chenyu Zhou  (ZJUI Graduates)

The days in Zhangjiakou are impressive. Through this competition, I have a deeper understanding of the major of civil engineering and learned the entire process of a project from proposal to implementation. Also, this project allows me to strengthen my ability of teamwork and communication.