For the first time ever, BYU will be a stop on the Utah Valley Parade of Homes. BYU students have designed, engineered and built a truly one-of-a-kind, zero-energy, sustainable, transportable, affordable home — right on campus. Nicknamed the “Triple Dome Home” because it consists of three interconnected monolithic concrete domes, the two-bedroom, two-bathroom home is (temporarily) nestled in a plot of land behind BYU’s Snell Building.
The zero-energy, 850-square-foot house was built completely by students as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon. It is designed to reduce its carbon footprint, decrease water consumption and maintain a constant temperature through cold winters and hot summers almost effortlessly. To top it off, the home is transportable and can be taken anywhere a crane can be placed. In fact, the home will be uprooted and moved to California in the fall to be sold.
“Our goal was to build a home entirely outside the traditional status quo,” said student Ally Atchley. “It’s clear that no home like this is readily available in the market today.”
A few unique engineering approaches to the Triple Dome Home include using fiberglass instead of rebar as the primary material to reinforce the concrete structure; applying a PVC membrane to the entire exterior of the walls to create an insulating, water-proof envelope; and berming the home with soil, rocks and plants covering portions of the exterior walls. The home is powered by 34 double-sided solar panels built into a carport and a pergola directly adjacent to the structure. Because of its concrete dome structure, the home is windproof, fireproof and resistant to extreme temperatures. It also has triple-paned windows for added energy efficiency.
The project has stretched the skills, both physical and mental, of the more than 20 students involved in the design, engineering and construction.
“As students, we learn a lot of book smarts, but this project at BYU has given us a lot of hands-on, real-life experience,” said Andy Rodriguez, a civil engineering major who helped lead the interior design. “That experience is not just from the physical process of building a home, but it’s with the emotional element as well — putting our time and energy into this with a group of people working for a common cause."
BYU is one of 15 universities from the U.S., Canada and India that competed in the Solar Decathlon Build Challenge. The BYU team and their Triple Dome Home will also compete in the Orange County Sustainability Decathlon later this year.
