Solar Decathlon 2011: Middlebury College’s Self-Reliance House

The individualist spirit that became Ralph Waldo Emerson’s calling card found a home at the 2011 Solar Decathlon when the team representing Middlebury College decided to name its entry Self-Reliance, after the title of one of Emerson’s most famous essays on the virtues and challenges of independent thought, originality, and action. Not surprisingly, the name is intended to be more than a tribute to one of New England’s best-known philosophers. The Middlebury team wants the project to bring Emersonian ideals to life.

So while the building’s gable form is a common one in northern New England, and the project certainly conforms to Decathlon guidelines, the Middlebury team has been working hard to deliver a project that not only is comfortable, affordable, and energy efficient, but also ecologically fine-tuned to Vermont’s weather and natural resources.

A classroom strategy ...
Construction of the house, expected to begin on the Middlebury campus by the end of March, will double as a technical affirmation of the design and a showcase for the surrounding community – a live demonstration of green building. Team members say they are developing lesson plans and interactive presentations designed to help students and teachers from the surrounding area understand green-building concepts and their implementation in Self-Reliance.

“I think one of the things that we acknowledge as a team is that this entire project is going to be meaningless, totally useless, a complete waste if we don’t share it effectively with other people,” team member Abe Bendheim recently told the Addison County Independent. “The project centers on providing a real, sustainable solution that people can adopt and construct themselves. It’s about changing the way that residential infrastructure is constructed in the U.S., and part of that outreach is what we’re doing right now.”

... and an environmental strategy
With a footprint of about 990 sq. ft., Self-Reliance features staggered-stud exterior walls whose 11-in.-thick cavities are filled with cellulose insulationThermal insulation made from recycled newspaper or other wastepaper; often treated with borates for fire and insect protection., bringing their thermal resistance to R-42. The decision to use cellulose over other insulation materials, notes Addison Godine, an architecture student and team member, meshes with the project’s environmental goals.

“Other insulation types, we found, don’t biodegrade in 500, 1,000, 2,000, 10,000 years,” Godine said in an interview with Fine Homebuildng’s Justin Fink at the International Builders’ Show in January. “Cellulose does. It returns to the earth’s natural cycles. So while it’s not the best insulator, we found that it is one of the most environmentally friendly insulation materials.”

To help maximize solar gain, large triple-pane windows will be installed on the south-facing exterior wall of the home’s open living-room area. Each of the windows will be fitted with three tiers of edible-garden planters. The floors of the house, a video walkthrough of Self-Reliance explains, will be locally harvested maple. The floor plan is intended to accommodate a family of four, with a bedroom big enough for two children, a master bedroom with an exit to the deck that surrounds the exterior, a dining nook off the common area, and a main-entry area for depositing boots and jackets during cold and wet weather. Ceilings in the living area and bedrooms run to the roof, while the ceiling height in the rest of the home’s private area drops to provide the occupants with extra storage space, which will be accessible from the bedrooms.

The outside area will include an arrangement of benches and plant beds, and, near the northeast corner of the house, four large water tanks designed to capture and store both potable and non-potable water.

Once the Decathlon is over, Godine added, the house, which breaks down into eight pieces (two floor modules and six roof trusses) for transport, will return to the Middlebury campus, function as housing for students, and resume its role as a living lab for green building.

For an overview of the Solar Decathlon teams, see GBA's 2011 Solar Decathlon Resource Guide