12.08.2008
By Ilya Mukosey, Murray O’Laoire, and Natalia Voinova, PlanAR LLC
Green building technologies are taking their first steps in Russia and local architects recently took part in the Dom-Autonom (Autonomous House) Contest in the autumn of 2007, in which participants were asked to produce a concept design for a summer holiday home. British architect Norman Foster is the competition’s main judge and will be announcing the winner at Moscow’s architectural biennale in June 2008.
Here, we take a look at one of the submissions: Dom-Samogon (Single Malt House), a project by Natalia Voinova and Ilya Mukosey. The concept draws its name from the Russian word samogon, which means distilled spirits made at home (or moonshine). The homemade alcohol, however, is used as bio-fuel rather than for human consumption.
The Dom-Samogon concept stands out for its innovation in six areas: engineering solutions, flexibility, structural solutions, façade, interior layout, and its creative use of recycled materials.
Engineering Solutions
Fuel Production
The distinctive feature of the house is that it produces the alcohol that provides the fuel for its autonomous existence. A special tank is installed on the roof for this purpose. Fruits and vegetables are the raw materials used and can be grown by the house’s owners or by neighbors. Other organic materials could also be used, such as grass, sawdust, or leaves.
The material is loaded in the tank together with rainwater and natural ferment and the tank is then closed air-tight. Sunshine speeds along the fermentation process. Once the process is complete, the valve that separates the tank from the condenser is opened. The alcohol fumes from the sun-heated tank go into the condenser, which is essentially a coiled pipe that runs through a barrel full of rainwater. The condensed liquid goes into the fuel tank. The use of solar heat prevents the liquid in the tank from heating to over 60 degree Celsius, which makes the fuel sufficiently clean and results in a high-level of alcohol.
The house is called Samogon not only because it contains a distiller. A number of the self-sufficient technologies that are used are based on the principles of evaporation and condensation that are involved in alcohol production.
Use of Rainwater
Rainwater is gathered in barrels installed on the roof. One of them is the source of water for the distiller. The others work as coolers in liquid condensing systems. The water that falls on the flat roof itself runs through an internal drainage system into a tank on the ground to the south of the house. The tank is painted black. The water heated by the sun evaporates. The tank is no more than three by four meters across and thirty centimeters deep, so that the surface area for evaporation is as large as possible.
Steam goes from this tank through the air pipe into the condenser that is located on the roof. The slanting roof of the condenser cools as an absorption heat pump. The steam is condensed on its lower surface. The generated water runs down into the tank for domestic water consumption.
The water is purified by the process of evaporation and condensation. However, it may require additional filtration before being consumed.
Black Wall Air Conditioner
The air conditioner also operates as an absorption heat pump. The southern wall of the house is painted black. The thermal energy accumulated in the wall sets the system in motion. The air conditioning is a closed independent system. It starts working when the sun starts heating the black wall, which is exactly when it is necessary for it to kick in.
The Absorption Heat Pump Principle
The absorption heat pump is a system that requires only the supply of heat and has no moving parts. Air conditioners working on the absorption heat pump principle are also produced. But the Single Malt House will require refrigerating systems with a special design. It uses solar heat energy as the main source of heat for its absorption refrigeration system, the alternative source of energy being the heat accumulated by the working of the generator.
Electric Power Generation
An electric generator running on alcohol with an output voltage of 12V and a 220V transformer is installed on the roof of the house. To save energy, the generator should be used only when electric power is required. The surplus of electric power is accumulated in the storage battery.
To cool the generator, we use a liquid radiator that can transmit the heat into the homemade alcohol production system or the water evaporation and condensation system. Alternatively, the heat can be used to heat the house.
Flexibility
All major elements of the house, from structures to internal partitions, are compatible. Depending on their number and combination, the house can have different dimensions both in length and width, as well as different layouts.
Structural Solutions
The structure of the house is based on an external load-bearing frame. The exterior walls are assembled from cross-shaped vertical elements 1.5 meters wide and three meters high. The overhead cover is a diagonal and a cross-ribbed construction with a span of one meter.
Fagade
All facades of the house, except for the southern one, which is essentially a Black Wall, are covered with stained-glass windows spanned by beams of 1.5 meters. The structures of the walls are placed within the building envelope. The space between the slanting elements of the load-bearing frame can be partially filled with a heat-storing material stitched from the inside, or used as storage space.
On the outside, there is a two-layer system of hinged shutter panels on two parallel rails. The panels can easily be moved around the façade, making combinations for windows and piers. They can be used to shut the whole house for the winter or when the owner is away.
Interior Layout
For the interior layout we suggested a system of standard elements (partitions, kitchen front, a bathroom unit) that can be installed in different ways providing numerous options for space management.
Recycling
Different recycled industrial products are used for the construction of the house, including: auto parts (a gas tank serves as one of the tanks in the system that is not connected with water processing; a radiator is used in the heat exchange system; and engines and generators are put to logical use); refrigerators (in the cooling system); and barrels (as tanks for rainwater for non-domestic consumption). Old clothes can even be used to fill the space between the load-bearing elements of the façade.
Source: AmCham News
http://www.amchamnews.ru/issue82/construction_and_infrastructure2
