Home for Life

Location: Lystrup, Denmark

Architect: AART A/S

Engineer: Esbensen Rådgivende Ingeniører

Developer: VELFAC & VELUX

Completion: april 2009

Home for Life is inspired by a traditional Danish 1 1/2-storey saddle roof house. This type of home has a relatively small surface with many possible variations.

Gallery (click to enlarge)

Energy

Home for Life produces more energy than it consumes. With an energy surplus of 9 kWh/m²/year, it takes approximately 40 years for the house to generate the same amount of energy that was used to produce its building materials. At that point, the house will have returned more to nature than it consumed. A solar heat pump and 7 m² solar collectors generate energy for heating and hot water, while 50 m² solar cells generate more electricity than the home consumes.

Indoor climate

Sensors that register heat, CO² and humidity in all rooms and an outside weather station are combined with an intelligent control system to ensure that the house adjusts to the family’s need for a healthy, comfortable indoor climate. Automatic window opening mechanisms let in fresh while sensors turn off lights when you leave the room. These factors combine to create a home with a very low level of energy consumption.

Environment

Window openings are situated to let in daylight from at least two angles in each living space. The window area of the building is 40 percent of the total floor area – twice the area of a traditional house. The openings let in nature, illuminate the rooms, optimize the flow of fresh air and generate spatial experiences indoors and out. While the home is being heated, half of the required heat comes directly from the sunlight that enters through the windows. All rooms have direct access to the outside.

Further description

With its design, orientation and materials, Home for Life is optimised to use as little energy as possible and to utilise forms of renewable energy. The house interacts with the local energy supply and structure. It covers all of its energy requirements primarily by collecting solar energy and converting it into heat and electricity through a combination of natural solutions and advanced technology – making the house CO2-neutral.