ai3 tours Das Haus: Sustainable & Energy design concepts

The Das Haus is a traveling pavilion, now located at Pemberton Place by The World of Coca Cola.The goal of the exhibit is to create an ongoing international dialogue about advanced technologies for home construction and solar energy use. Concepts are meant to demonstrate the future of sustainable building and the resources and integration needed to reach that future.  Several of us ventured to the exhibit over lunch and jotted down the following notes:

EXTERIOR: The exterior cladding consisted of corrugated steel covered with photo-voltaics that were hooked up to a master computer.  The rectangular form of the pavilion was inspired by a shipping container, and was in fact shipped to Atlanta in one. The pavilion only takes 3 days to assemble and 4 days to disassemble. All of the parts of Das Haus are German fabricated components except for the white oak flooring in the central portion of the structure.

SYSTEMS: A small water tank is located inside for the sink and coffee machine.  The construction focused on cutting down heat gain by using concepts such as triple-paned windows that include argon 90 gas and walls insulated with vacumn sealed insulation. Das Haus uses a heat recovery system that cuts down on the amount of energy used by capturing the energy from interior air as it is exhausted.  The pavillin PV array's power is stored in a series of (12) closed-valve lead acid batteries. These batteries feature a gell electrolyte which cuts out the refilling process. There is no maintenance required, very little ventilation, and the batteries can be installed horizontally and vertically.

INTERIORS: Doors, floors, and walls provide 10 times more insulation than those constructed in the U.S. and featured streamlined hardware. Interior materials feature plastic "3-Form" type cabinetry doors, wood flooring, and vinyl wall panels.  The majority of the lighting is LED.