Solar Ark 3.0
Solar House for Solar Decathlon China
Energy Integrated Lightweight UHPC Shell
Bird’s-eye view of Solar Ark 3.0 at the campus
of Solar Decathlon China, Zhangjiakou, China, 2021.
Solar Ark 3.0 is an energy self-sufficient house constructed for Solar Decathlon China. Instead of performance optimizations after architectural design, the key design concept of Solar Ark 3.0 is to integrate the requirements of architecture, structure, and energy system all in the early design phase through the geometrical shape of a building. This project intends to design a proper surface geometry that can effectively increase the stiffness of the structure, minimize material mass, reduce construction wastes, improve the indoor climate, and attribute to the energy supplies of a building.
Form-Making Process
A smooth poly-hypar surface is chosen as the structural form, because of its special geometrical and structural properties which can fulfill the requirements of the key design conception in Solar Ark 3.0. To reduce construction complexity and waste, the form-making process of the freeform roof starts from a standard module. Every pair of adjacent hypars in a standard module always satisfy the coplanarity principle.
A standard module is combined smoothly from 3 types of
hypars, 4 pieces in each type
The internal forces and reaction of the hypar are calculated
through force diagrams in graphic statics
Prefabrication of Modules
Multiple reuses of formwork effectively reduced construction waste. To ensure the precision and rigidity of the formwork, a fiberglass-reinforced plywood system (FRPS) was chosen to construct the full module formwork.
Assembly On-Site
The in-site assembly of Solar Ark 3.0 lasted for 12 days. Since a full module is self-supported, during the assembly process of the concrete roof, no complex scaffoldings were needed. All the modules can achieve a dynamic equilibrium during the assembly process.
The front view of Solar Ark 3.0
Interior view of the livingroom in Solar Ark 3.0
Night view of Solar Ark 3.0