ECOLAR house

-This is not just a name... it´s a philosophy!

Ecologic

Throughout the life cycle of the building – from raw material extraction, through processing of the products to their disposal – the greatest emphasis is laid on ecologically sound building materials and methods.

Solar

The sun is the main energy supplier. By the use of numerous photovoltaic panels the power of the sun can be deployed. Therefore no fossil energy source are needed and the environment will be preserved.

Economic

Most of the components can be produced in advance and in series with a high level of accuracy.This simplifies the assembly and reduces the manufacturing cost. Thus, material, money and time can be spent efficiently.

Modular

The Ecolar Home is modular, it can expand and shrink. This high degree of flexibility also increases the lifetime of the building, because it can easily be adapted or converted.

In Addition to modularity, flexibility is an important principle of the concept. Because every builder is supposed to compose his own ECOLAR Home. And, if his needs change, the building adapts easily. True to the motto:

»Change your life, change your home!«

Architecture

The ECOLAR Home for the Solar Decathlon Europe 2012 will consist of six modules. Four of them serve as interior spaces, two of them are designed as patios. The modular concept of the building is readable on the outside. The inserted wall panels can easily be distinguished from the columns and beams. The facades of the patios are glazed, so that natural light can reach the interior. In order to enable sun and privacy protection, the patios can be screened by curtains.

The other facades are conducted either transparent or fitted with semi-transparent photovoltaics. The roof is constructed as a flat roof and therefore fits into the overall cubic shape of the house. It dissolves, however, by a gap from the actual building structure. This way it appears more delicate and there is more importance to it.

Building Set

A building set for everyone

To realize this concept, the ECOLAR modular system was developed. From a kind of component catalogue, you can choose the prefabricated elements, such as columns, walls, windows, roof...and create different ECOLAR buildings for different uses.

Adaption to family situation

If an addition to the family announces itself, and additionals space is needed in the future, more modules can easily be attached.

Adaption to financial situation

If a builder has only a modest budget at his disposal when he buys his ECOLAR Home, he can initially buy salutary elements, so to speak the basic kit. With his financial situation improved, he can upgrade his house at any time.

Adaption to local conditions

The ECOLAR Home can be perfectly adapted to each building site. Due to its flexible design the shape and orientation can incur to every circumstance.

Adaption to usage

If an ECOLAR Home is no longer needed as a residential building, it can easily take over a new function and can be converted for example into office or retail compartments.

Adaption to the needs of the user

Of course, the ECOLAR Home offers also many design options. It is therefore ideal to clients who now and then want to change something in their house just for fun.

Adaption to the state of the art

The single components of the ECOLAR System can be permanently optimized and improved. And because the basic grid and the design principle remain always the same, users can customize their ECOLAR Home any time with the latest standards.

Interior

The modular and flexible concept resumes in the interior with the „super cabinet“. This consists of floor to ceiling cabinet modules and contains all the necessary functions for everyday life. From the furniture to the bathroom and the technique, everything disappears into the walls.

According to the thought of modularity the design of the cabinet is also based on a regular grid. Because every resident shall have the opportunity to put together his own super cabinet and replace the optional modules later on.

The kitchen is also included and fits formally into the round shape. This creates a flexible space which adapts to the needs and moods of the resident again and again.

Exterior

The exterior space should create a reference to the native region and bring a piece of the Lake Constance to Madrid. Therefore, there will be typical features such as water or the classic wooden walkways.

Construction

The modular principle creates high demands on the construction of the house. It requires that all components are manufactured very precisely and specific solutions are developed for connecting parts that both hold stable and can also be resolved easily.

Due to reasons of marketviability and sustainability, the desicion was made on a wooden structure. Because the beams and columns are formed as hollow box sections, a very high load capacity can be achieved with a low cost of materials. In addition, the single parts are very light, which also faciliates the handling and the assembly on site. Another advantage of this design is, that the cavities of the columns and beams can be insulated.

Energy Conception

The roof is the powerstation of the house. Because the entire surface is covered with photovoltaics, and even above the patios semi-transparent solar cells are being used.

The house, however, should not only produce as much energy, but also consume as little as possible. Therefore, it is conditioned largely passive.

The PCM (Phase Changing Material) enriched clay plates on the ceiling can absorb the heat from the interior air and can regulate the humidity in addition.

Even the facade element from LUCIDO is an intelligent construction component and can store heat in order to improve the insulation value.

In extreme cases, the passive system can be connected to a climate control unit. It can operate both, the heating and cooling if needed. In Addition the air is preheated an can also support the heating and cooling system.

In order to remain faithful to the concept of sustainability, the wastewater is treated through a filtration system. Then it can be used again, for example as grey water for flushing the toilet. The goal is to interconnect simple components in an intelligent way in order to create an intelligent house.

Marketability

What do we do?

The business idea is to plan, produce and distribute energy efficient, modular and expandable living room. ECOLAR supports a sustainable building method by using a modular design principle which is path-breaking for a sustainable, ecological and carbon neutral society.
By using prefabricated, standardized elements, it is possible to guarantee a competitive and simple reproduci- bility of the modules. These modules can be combined in any order- horizontal and vertical - to design individual living space. The ecolar Home offers maximum comfort with a high level of efficiency.

Who are our target customers?

We live in a global society which has to force substantial restructuring measures in favor of successive gene- rations to be able to keep societal-social achievements and living standards.

An ecological compatible and reasonable orientation of our products is a basic necessity because of ecological and social factors.

The focus of the potential target customers for this product during the initial period of the company consists of wealthy customers who we call the “High Society”. For them, the ecolar Home is a sustainable prestige object, convincing with a high architectural design. In this Phase, only few homes will be sold annually.

With increasing sales, the ecolar Home will be affordable for the Upper Class. These well-paid customers live ecologically conscious and are open to modern architecture.

Has the ecolar Home established itself on the market, a fast supply with residential space for sustainable, energy-efficient housing or appartment blocks can be ensured.

To complement and expand the product range, the modules can additionally be offered as ecolar carports, where electric cars can be loaded directly from the sun.

Which market do we operate?

It is assumed that the market of energy-efficient buildings will expand and that it will be exposed to a strong demand in the coming years. This assumption is especially corroborated by the introduction of the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), which stipulates that all newly built houses must be desig- ned as nearly-zero-energy buildings by the year 2020.

An increasingly tense situation in the housing market, particularly in the metropolitan regions of Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart aso. suggests a more dynamic market, especially for prefabricated homes, due to the rapid construction times.

A detailed analysis of the special market of energy-plus prefabricated houses in which the company ECOLAR operates is not possible because of insufficient data. Therefore, we turned our attention to the trends on the residential construction market and the market of prefabricated houses. ECOLAR plans to carry out an own survey to collect data to be able to better judge the target market for the ECOLAR home.

How do we implement our idea?

The industrial production and implementation of the ECOLAR Home draws on the modularity of the design. Thus, it is not only possible to realize a wide variety of building forms and typologies, but also to realize a low-cost production and prefabrication in the factory.

The columns and beams, as well as the roof or exterior walls are based on a regular grid just as the building itself. Therefore only a few machine settings and patterns are necessary to manufacture these components.

The beams and columns are designed as wooden hollow box sections. This requires a wood plate material, which is cut exactly to the millimeter in special production lines. These perfectly cut parts are then glued in a vacuum injection system. Due to the raster of the building, this method is also applied to the walls, the ceiling and floor elements. They are made accurately and can easily be inserted into the framework.

The high degree of prefabrication saves time and money and the accuracy of the elements ensure the positive static performance.
 

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