Prêt-à-Loger

This project was part of the 2014 Solar Decathlon Europe Challenge and ran from 2014-2016. Visit the project website: http://www.pretaloger.nl/.

The post-war row house, built in great numbers for the European middle class, is a major consumer of energy. With over 1.4 million homes, this type of house dominates the Dutch building stock. How do you improve the outdated climate and spatial conditions of these existing buildings, with so many people living in them? This was the challenge TU Delft students decided to tackle when competing in the 2014 Solar Decathlon Challenge.

Under the name Prêt-à-Loger, they developed a ‘skin’ that can be put over a house to render it more energy neutral and to add more space, while its home quality remains untouched. Under the motto ‘Improve your house, preserve your home’, Prêt-à-Loger aims to enhance the performance of outdated dwellings while preserving the original feeling of the community and neighbourhood. After the Solar Decathlon Challenge, where the initiative won top honours, it found a new home at TU Delft’s Faculty of Architecture.

People:

• Dr. Andy van den Dobbelsteen

Research Line: Ingraining Photovoltaics in Urban Living