Med in Italy – Solar Decathlon Europe 2012

  

  

 

 

Solar Decathlon 2012 is the international competition created by the US Department of Energy, an Olympics of green architecture. MED in Italy is the project of a team made up of professors and students from the University of Rome TRE in collaboration with the Sapienza Industrial Design Laboratory, which gained third place in the Architecture section of the competition. This is the first time in 12 years, starting from first edition of Solar decathlon in 1999, that an Italian team is admitted to the world competition for sustainable architecture. The Med in Italy house has its roots in the tradition of the southern Mediterranean, the reference climate is the warm temperate one of the Italian peninsula and was conceived to adapt to seasonal and daily climatic stresses by consuming five times less energy than traditional houses using construction materials typical of the Mediterranean tradition.

The lighting project, developed by Marco Frascarolo (with the contribution of Vincenzo Cristallo for the ceramic lamps and of the lighting manufacturer DGA) sought to ensure maximum visual comfort and energy savings, with a warm atmosphere, in a Mediterranean lifestyle. Four custom lighting systems have been developed: a linear system for a pictorial surface of 11 meters, a punctual suspension system for the living area and the sleeping area (adaptable to size, which allows you to change the point of origin and height of the suspended light sources), and a lighting system for the loggias. The system, powered by electrified tracks inserted into the joints that separate the radiant ceiling panels, allows to vary the number and type of suspensions, to change their position along the longitudinal axis and on the transverse axis, through a rotating support for the apparatus, called Elica.