PREFAB FRIDAY: ZeroHouse Shows Nothing is Everything
by Cate Trotter
Ever dreamed of owning a completely self-sufficient home that produces its own energy, water, and is completely customizable? New York architect Scott Specht has the answer to all of our zero-energy prefab dreams with the new ZeroHouse™. This completely self-sustaining prefabricated house generates its own power, collects its own water, processes its own waste and is 100% automatic. Versatile, durable and site-sensitive, ZeroHouse can be erected in almost any location in one day with steel frame components and a helical-anchor foundation system that requires no excavation.
High-efficiency solar panels produce power which is then stored by a battery to provide up to a week of power should the sun ever be devoid of enthusiasm. Triple glazing and low-e heat-mirror glass enable the windows to be large without affecting heat levels. Exterior doors are also insulated to further stabilize the house’s temperature.
The robust components enable the building to be used in a variety of remote and hostile locations: places unsuitable for more conventional structures, such as in 10 feet of water of slopes of up to 35 degrees. The house’s tubular steel frame means it can withstand winds of up to 140 mph, despite having foundations that only touch the ground at four points to offer minimum site disturbance.
Such is the nature of future-thinking designs, it’s no surprise to find it comes equipped with sensors that talk to the user’s PC for straightforward(ish) climate control. Programmable, long-life low-energy LED lighting is built into the walls and ceilings to further improve the design’s sustainable aesthetic.
Less high-tech but nevertheless rewarding, the house’s water and waste processing system features rainwater collection facilities, which is then sent though the house via the power of gravity, avoiding unnecessary electricity-hungry pumps. The house’s garden even gets in on the self-sufficiency act, being fed twice a year by the waste that the house collects and turns into compost.
Images: Copyright 2005 Scott Specht Architect LLC
+0
Get Inhabitat Email
[…] before but I couldn’t remember it’s name so I couldn’t find the link. Thanks to Inhabitat I now know the name and have the link. So if you want to see an example of a super prefab, that […]