The Y House is almost a living thing, designed to adapt to its surroundings like no other structure.

It’s Yale University’s first entry into the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon, to be held Oct. 8-18, and it’s environmentally magnificent, with a lattice-like outer wall surrounding a more solid inner membrane, constructed in three modules, one of which plugs into the others and holds all the mechanicals, such as the water heater and the ventilator.

“Our team has been really looking at how we can embed sustainability into the house itself,” said Kate McMillan, a senior architecture student from Houston. The team, composed entirely of students, has been working on the project for two years.

“We’ve built the house so it’s oriented toward natural ventilation. It’s a linear configuration so we’re able to maximize air flow.” McMillan added, “We’re really focusing on the idea of using modular construction (which) really enables us to bring the price of the house down.”

The house is being built in three modules. The main structure will come from Portland, Oregon, in two halves that will be assembled with the other houses in Irvine, California. The third module, containing the hot-water tank and a ventilator that knows when a window is opened, plugs into the back.

The working model is not inexpensive, however. The 12 undergraduates have raised $200,000 so far and have $180,000 to go. “A couple of us have really been transformed into telemarketers the past few weeks,” McMillan said.

McMillan said the Yale team will be calling alumni and other potential sponsors to raise the remaining money. Among their sponsors are FedEx, IBM and several Yale entities such as the Yale Climate and Energy Institute. Other sponsors have donated or given discounts on materials.

As for materials, “It’ll be a combination of pine and … laminated engineered wood that is becoming popular” in home-construction, said Thaddeus Lee, a junior architecture major from Singapore.

There will be a lattice-like screen that will form the outer structure, Lee said. “We’re looking for sustainably sourced wood for that. It’s probably going to be red cedar,” he said.

The mechanical module is “the most specialized component of the house so we’re building it here on Yale’s campus,” McMillan said. This coming week, all three modules will be shipped to Irvine and assembled.

Some of the wooden features will be sent out from here too. “Parts of it are coming from the Yale forest,” McMillan said, so it will have a connection to the university. Yale’s Myers Forest, one of five forests Yale owns, is located in several towns in northeastern Connecticut.

In this house, indoors and outdoors are fluid concepts; both form part of the living space. A key feature of the design is that “the living room of the house will have a large folding door,” Lee said. “You are able to open all the doors and it will effectively let you double the size of your living room” by using the large deck in front.

“We wanted to almost feel like that’s an extension of the house,” McMillan said of the deck. The extended lattice brings the two together visually.

The group is lucky because the 700-square-foot house will be assembled in the temperate city of Irvine, south of Los Angeles, although it may need modifications, such as insulation, for its final home in North Carolina.

The house has to meet 10 Energy Department criteria, including solar power, architectural and market appeal and being able to charge an electric car.

“We have one ‘wet’ wall so everything mechanical or plumbing has been pushed to one wall of the house,” McMillan said. That will be the back or west side. The east side, on the other hand, will have a more open feeling. A wide ramp connects the deck to the front door.

Once the parts are shipped to Irvine, “We have 10 days to assemble the house,” McMillan said. “It’s like Legos putting them together.”

For more information, contact the team by email at yalesolardecathlon2015@gmail.com.

http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20150809/yale-students-build-sustainable-house-for-solar-decathlon