Harvard HouseZero. Cambridge, MA. 2018. Snøhetta.

Snøhetta, in tandem with the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and Cities at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, recently completed an ultra-energy efficient retrofitting of an 1940’s Cambridge building. With approximately 40% of worldwide energy consumption coming from the building industry, this project addresses the problem of renovating existing infrastructure to counteract the extant built environment’s vast energy use and carbon pollution to curb climate change. HouseZero is an energy positive prototype of ultra-efficient retrofitting, which over its lifetime will produce more energy than was used to renovate and operate it. The project achieves such goals as almost no energy spent on heating and cooling, 100% natural ventilation, total daylight autonomy, and zero carbon emissions. The structure has no HVAC system and, rather, self-adjusts seasonally to optimal thermal comfort for its occupants using 285 sensors that respond to internal and external variables. The team behind HouseZero propose that this structure may serve as a blueprint for future sustainable retrofits. (source).