25 June 2020 | updated:
28.10.2021

The European university competition for sustainable building and living in the city is entering the next round. On Thursday, the teams will present their projects in short pitches. Interested parties can follow the event live online.

The second team workshop of the Solar Decathlon Europe 21/22 will take place from September 8 to 10, 2021. 14 of the 18 selected, international student teams will be on site with small groups; the other teams will participate in the workshop digitally due to pandemics. As a workshop highlight, the teams will present their projects in short pitches (language: English) on Thursday, September 9, from 5 to 7 pm. Interested parties can join live on Zoom and get to know the Solar Decathlon Europe teams and their projects better.

An international panel of judges selected 18 teams from the applicants. “We have been overwhelmed by the international interest in the urban Solar Decathlon Europe 21,” explains project leader Daniel Lorberg from the University of Wuppertal. “In this century of urbanization and climate change, humanity’s future is in its cities. It is essential that the urban energy transition is actively implemented now. We are grateful that we can go about this together with committed people from all over the world.”

Competition was postponed

But now the competition was postponed for one year. Partly because the anti-corona conditions in the individual countries are so different that the teams would have different chances of a proper preparation.

The competition began in 2002 in the USA and has since taken place around the world, with the 21st competition to be held in 2022. After having been hosted in places such as Madrid and Versailles, the European edition of the competition is coming to Germany for the first time with a new urban profile.

The plan is for this event to bring ideas for sustainable, energy-efficient, and socially conscious architecture into focus. Supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), the project team from the University of Wuppertal brought the competition to Germany for the first time, with the cooperation of the city of Wuppertal, the Wuppertal Institute, the Utopiastadt initiative, WSW Wuppertaler Stadtwerke GmbH, and Neue Effizienz GmbH.

Altmaier: “Real-world energy transition”

Peter Altmaier, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, said: “I am proud of Wuppertal for convincing the judges with its innovative idea for an urban competition. I am certain that the teams will present ideas that can be used as model solutions for other cities and countries. This is a real-world energy transition.”

The 18 teams selected now have roughly a year and a half to design and plan their buildings. In 2022, representative excerpts from the overall buildings will then be constructed and operated at a 1:1 scale on a section of the Utopiastadt campus. While the fully functional homes are open for visitors to explore, the teams will compete against each other in ten disciplines. These include sustainability and social elements. The teams will be expected to present their designs in April. Along with participating in workshops, the decathletes will also get the opportunity to network with each other and with local stakeholders on a tour of Wuppertal’s Mirke neighbourhood.

All the Solar Decathlon teams

The 18 teams for Solar Decathlon Europe 21 are:

  • Aachen FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences (Team socialENERGY), Germany
  • Bangkok Bangkok University (Team SAB adaptive living quarter), Thailand
  • Bangkok King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (Team UR-BAAN), Thailand
  • Biberach Biberach University of Applied Sciences (Team X4S), Germany
  • Bucharest “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism (Team EFdeN), Romania
  • Delft Delft University of Technology (Team SUM), Netherlands
  • Düsseldorf Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences (Team HSD – MI-MO), Germany
  • Eindhoven Eindhoven University of Technology (Team VIRTUe), Netherlands
  • Gothenberg Chalmers University of Technology (Team C-Hive), Sweden
  • Grenoble Grenoble School of Architecture (Team Aura), FranceKarlsruhe
  • Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Team RoofKIT), Germany
  • Copenhagen Technical University of Denmark (Team Denmark), Denmark
  • Pécs University of Pécs (Team Lungs of the City), Hungary
  • Prague Czech Technical University in Prague (Team FIRSTlife), Czech Republic
  • Rosenheim Rosenheim Technical University of Applied Sciences (Team Level Up), Germany
  • Stuttgart HFT Stuttgart (Team col.lab), Germany
  • Taipeh National Chiao Tung University (Team House for All), Taiwan
  • Valencia Universitat Politècnica de València (Team Azalea), Spain

Contact

Coordination

Bergische Universität Wuppertal
Dr. Marion Wittfeld


Additional Links

 Solar Decathlon Europe