Aurora House
Two homes and a courtyard, powered by the sun.
Designed in Denmark. Built by us, in under 20 days.
Our team on the foundation, before the modules arrived.
The pandemic kept our Danish partners from coming to China.
Our team joined the Technical University of Denmark with Soochow University for Solar Decathlon China 2021. They drew the first design; we had to adapt it to China and build it on our own.
Two homes of 80 and 60 m², built from modules made in a factory.
A 35 m² courtyard joins them under a bamboo roof. Two technical cores serve the kitchens and baths with water, power and heating. The square plans make good use of space and keep energy and transport costs low.
- PrefabricationJul 10–20, in factories
- PreparationAug 23
- HoistingAug 24–25
- Bamboo facadeAug 26 – Sep 3
- Roof trussesSep 1–4
- Solar panelsSep 6
- Ventilation, heatingSep 8
On site, we put it up in under 20 days.
Assisted construction with AR, on a HoloLens 2.
AR showed us where every tile went.
The facade's bamboo tiles sit at five angles, so the overlay colours each one by its angle: no measuring, marking or checking drawings. On the roof, the same overlays showed where the build had drifted from the design, and I led the fix.
The competition came a year later.
The pandemic pushed it to August 2022. The house passed the 48-hour zero-energy challenge and won an Excellence Award for its overall score, and I was named Best Future Designer.
- Role
- Led the interior design group; worked on the plan, details, facade, construction and procurement
- Team
- Technical University of Denmark and Soochow University
- Competition
- Solar Decathlon China 2021
- Instructors
- Dr. Wang Sining, Dr. Han Dongchen
- Years
- Built in 2021, judged in August 2022