To be clear, the house is not 100% complete — though it’s awfully close. A couple of the interior areas are still in need of drywall, and some exterior features and the landscaping remain unfinished. Moreover, the building will require a certificate of occupancy from L.A.’s Department of Building and Safety.The layers of 3-D-printed concrete give the walls a geologic look, and the curving shape and high ceilings prevent this intimately scaled studio from feeling like a shoebox.
A combined living/sleeping area in the foreground leads to an open kitchen/dining space in the Solar Futures House at Woodbury University.The Solar Futures House began as an entry in the, a national collegiate competition organized by the U.S. Department of Energy that encourages budding designers to create high-performance structures powered by renewable energy.
In the spring of 2022, a class of Woodbury students submitted a design proposal and was selected as one of 14 finalists, receiving a $50,000 grant for construction. By the fall of that year, the team was breaking ground. The structure they proceeded to build was all about efficiency. Shower water is recirculated for toilet flushing. The home’s bending form and sloped roof are designed to respond to the angle of the sun over the course of the year, thereby maximizing the generation of solar power. Currently, the structure features one solar array on the roof, which makes the building net zero . Add another and it becomes net-positive, supplying energy to the grid.