Monash team builds for a sustainable future
Congratulations to the Monash Sustainable Building (MSB) team for achieving second place in the 2023 US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Since 2002 the Solar Decathlon has challenged over 900 university teams from more than 40 countries to design and build zero-energy buildings in their local communities.
MSB has consistently placed in the top 3 since they first entered the competition in 2020. This year the team had submissions in two Design Challenge divisions. “Humming Home”, which was awarded 2nd place in the New Housing division and Eco Office, a co-working office and community building which was a finalist in the Office Building division.
MSB Vice-Team Lead, Elita Wu (Mechanical Engineering/Biomedicine) and Humming Home Project Lead, Rajath Sindia (Civil Engineering/Architecture), shared their incredible journey with us.
Monash Sustainable Build - developing skills and professional networks
MSB is made up of 40 multidisciplinary students including, Engineering, Law, Architecture, and Global Studies. These students pour hundreds of hours of work into prototyping and designing sustainable buildings, as well as non-technical areas such as marketing and connecting with industry partners.
“It was amazing to see so many people involved in one vision. Seeing everyone's passion and initiative in the team was inspiring” said Elita.
Humming House - a dream a year and a half in the making
MSB began preparing the Humming House project for the Solar Decathlon 18 months before submission. The competition aims to impress upon university students the importance of sustainability in building practice through two categories, Design and Build Challenges. Each entry is assessed against 10 criteria, including energy performance, architecture, and occupant experience. (see diagram)
Humming House - designing transitional homes victim-survivors of family violence
MSB partnered with Kara House, a support centre for people impacted by family violence, and Lighthouse Foundation, a non-profit organisation that aims to end youth homelessness, to develop a sustainable transition home for victim-survivors of domestic violence. This resulted in a design for residential housing that suits a range of families seeking short-term accommodation before transitioning to a permanent home.
“Placing in the competition was an incredible feeling” said Elita. “Domestic violence is a universal issue that everyone can empathise with and is something that our team is invested in raising awareness for. Knowing that there are people from around the world who believe in the importance of transitional housing, and sustainability, as much as us is so amazing”
Humming Home includes many energy-efficient and climate-resilient features. To prevent the risk of bushfires, it is designed with ember-proof door thresholds and recycles greywater for sub-surface irrigation. Solar panels will store energy in 10kWh batteries to provide heating, cooling, and water heating at the residence.
“Our design has a strong and contextually relevant narrative for both the occupant experience... and the engineering side of the design. We made our design centred around a target occupant who had a back story which made all design moves and intentions clear. This was coupled with bushfire resilience which made the house especially relevant to our context…” explained Rajath.
Building upon the expertise of industry partners
Elita and Raj both speak highly of the many industry partners of MSB which help them to design with greater intention. Their technical supporters include Efficiency Matrix, Smartplus Academy, and Aurecon who have taught them to present their designs professionally and defend their ideas. The Build Challenge was also supported by CORE Projects, Master Builders Association of Victoria, Eastern Innovation Business Centre, and BuildFit who provided keen insights into industry standards and opportunities for students to seek mentorship within their industry.
Designing and building for a brighter future
MSB continues to be dedicated to developing net-zero building solutions with a focus on advocating for and enabling members of the community with unique and additional struggles. The students design and build the world they want to live in.
"It's deeply inspiring to see how the Team's hard work has paid off this year - travelling to the US to participate in this international competition, their success in the competition, and their involvement with other projects, all of which will have positive social and environmental impacts. It's really a privilege for me to supervise these students." said Dr Brandon Winfrey, Department of Civil Engineering lecturer and MSB student team Academic Supervisor.
Visit the Monash Solar Decathlon website for more information and to express interest in partnering with the team on projects.
Visit the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon website for more information about the competition.
