Solar energy shines on bespoke Romanian home

More than 50 people spent almost two years working to find efficient solutions for modern day lifestyle issues and transform a building into the home of the future. The Romanian architectural project PRISPA is the first attempt to transform sustainability into an industrialized series of houses. Pierre Bortnowski told BR how a Romanian project has impressed internationally and is now being readied for mass production.

By Oana Vasiliu

Development of efficient houses that consume as few natural resources as possible and produce minimum waste products during their life cycle is a niche that visionary architects are increasingly exploring. Among them are Pierre Bortnowski and his team, students and professionals from the Bucharest Technical University of Civil Engineering, Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism in Bucharest and the Polytechnic University of Bucharest. PRISPA was made public when the team decided to participate in the 2012 Solar Decathlon Europe, an international competition which promotes sustainability through efficient homes. PRISPA was second for Energy Efficiency, fourth for Electrical Energy Balance and second for Public Choice.

PRISPA refers to porch (for which “prispa” is the Romanian word), a typical element of traditional local architecture. This house was designed so that in the summer, when the sun is up, it shades the interior, whereas in winter, when the sun is lower in the sky, the porch allows the rays to enter through the window and heat the stone paving. Other traditional elements, such as a north roof, works like a wind shield, protecting the house, and a special organization of space.

How did you come up with the idea of this modular house ?

The house was designed by the students on the team over the two years of the project. It took us some time to clarify what our goal was with PRISPA. We finally managed to summarize it during a five-day intense brainstorming workshop in October 2011. PRISPA is a new example for rural areas in Romania. It offers people an alternative way of building that respects the characteristics and the common sense of traditional villages (in the orientation, size and appropriate use of materials). It brings technology to another level of efficiency through clever design, which involves a very good collaboration between the different departments of the design team: architects, engineers and designers. And most importantly, it is an affordable solution: we reflected Prima Casa as a price limit for the industrialization version of PRISPA (EUR 70,000).

Did you receive other sales offers at the competition or in Romania besides from the family from Bacau who bought a house?

In Romania, we had over 8,000 visitors during July and August. We have had over 20 enquiries from interested people and a few companies interested in the industrialization of the house. In Madrid, at the Solar Decathlon Europe Competition, we had 25,000 visitors during the 15 days of the competition. And again, the house was a hit, with more than 25 interested buyers, and also interested retailers (in France, Spain and Africa).

What does mass production of the house entail?

We are currently discussing the best way to begin industrialization of PRISPA, with the team members and various other partners. It is important that we move fast to ensure continuity and to benefit from the publicity created by our participation in SDE2012 in Madrid. There are different options

for us: from selling the whole business to doing it all by ourselves. Of course, the best solution is somewhere in the middle. The best outcome would be to have a small group of students from the team bringing the project to the industrialization process. This would ensure continuity and efficiency, and this way the message of PRISPA remains strong, as an example for rural life in Romania.

Which type of person would buy this house?

We have seen that in Romania, EUR 70,000 is still quite a large sum of money and only people earning above the average salary can afford it. Up to now, those interested have been either people looking to build a second home for weekends or vacations, or those tired of city living who are thinking of moving to a village close by. We have also had a few people who where thinking of integrating PRISPA in bigger cities, in less dense neighborhoods.

It is important to note that PRISPA is a house that produces more energy than it uses. The balance at the end of the year is positive which means no energy bills! Theoretically, you can even make money from the extra energy produced. The integrated technology makes it difficult to reach lower prices than that proposed but it is already a very interesting investment on a ten-year basis (a minimum for a house).

What is the efficiency of the house when it is not connected to a smart grid?

There is no difference in energy production whether the grid is a smart grid or not. A smart grid allows better use of the energy produced and reduces losses by shortening the distance between production and usage, and by optimizing the different sources according to their capacity of production. PRISPA was designed (under competition rules) to be connected to the grid. Of course, we can also think of a version of PRISPA made for zones that don’t have access to the grid. This would mean including batteries and recalculating production and usage of energy on this basis. The price of such a house would be a bit higher (for extra batteries and PV), but still much more attractive than having to pay for connection to the grid. A lot of people in this situation have shown great interest in our project because they cannot afford the huge expenses of grid connection.

How do you plan to further market the project and attract more buyers?

The publicity around PRISPA is already quite good. Our best market argument is to show it works! That’s why we are very happy to have found a buyer for the prototype. The house that came back from Madrid is now nearly ready for its new life. We are finishing the work and collaborating with the owner and our partners to successfully connect PRISPA to the grid. This would be a wonderful example for Romania and a big step towards a more sustainable energy production.

Why was the team that worked on the project so large? How did you find them all?

Fifty people is a big number to coordinate! At the same time, it often seemed that we were still lacking people for all the different activities required by the project. We didn’t just build a house: we created a product with a very strong industrialization potential, we have done a one and a half year communication campaign around this project, we have had to find sponsorship for this project (EUR 250,000 of services, materials and cash over the two years). The hardest thing was having to fight against a very strong inertia that exists in Romania to bring this project to reality. We had to convince universities, sponsors and the general public that PRISPA was doable and worth the effort. This was by far the biggest time- and energy-consuming process.

Do you have in mind other projects for the 2013 Solar Decathlon competition?

In 2013, the competition will take place in the United States but the teams have already been selected because it’s a two-year project. In 2014, the competition will be in Versailles, in France. Interested universities should send a file by mid November to have a chance of being selected as one of the 20 teams for SDE2014. At the moment, two institutions are interested in participating in the next European edition 2014: UTCB would like to continue the experiment started with PRISPA and the University of Cluj is also putting together a team.

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