SURE HOUSE: A Model of Resiliency

What uses 90% less energy than its conventional cousins, serves as an emergency power hub for the neighborhood after a storm, and has custom fiber-composite flood proofing integrated into the wall, floor, and roof assemblies, plus an off-grid, direct DC solar hot water system? The SURE HOUSE, designed by students of the Stevens Institute of Technology, won last year’s US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. It’s a home designed to mitigate climate change and prepare inhabitants—and neighbors—for rising seas and increasingly severe storms. See a special presentation from the project’s student team leads on its resiliency features and what elements of the design may be scalable for larger buildings.

The SURE HOUSE team took first place overall in the October 2015 contest, after an unprecedented streak of winning first in seven individual contests, including Architecture, Market Appeal, Engineering, Communications, Commuting, Appliances and Home-Life.