Originally published in Mechanical Business.
Teams from the University of British Columbia and the University of Waterloo are among the winners of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Solar Decathlon 2023 Build Challenge.
This was the 21st edition of the annual Solar Decathlon, a student competition that challenges the next generation of building professionals to design and construction high-performance, low-carbon buildings powered by renewable energy. The Design Challenge is a one- to two-semester project, while the Build Challenge is a two-year competition.
Third Quadrant Design from the University of British Columbia was third overall in the Build Challenge, placing first in the Architecture, Occupant Experience and the Embodied Environmental Impact categories, second in the Durability and Resilience category, and third in the Integrated Performance and Comfort and Environmental Quality categories. Prior to the competition, the team welcomed visitors into Third Space Common, one of Canada’s first institutional spaces designed to be nearly-zero embodied carbon.
Teams from other Canadian universities also placed among the winners, including the University of Waterloo (first in the Build Challenge – Engineering category), Concordia University (third in the Design Challenge – New Housing division), the University of British Columbia Okanagan – Kelowna, and Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops (both winning second place in the Design Challenge – Attached Housing division).
Click here to see the full list of the winners of the Build Challenge, and here to see the winners of the Design Challenge.
The winning designs can also be viewed at the DOE’s Virtual Village.