Gone baby, GONE!

The B&W House is now crossing the Atlantic Ocean and headed towards Baltimore! In the meantime, we are preparing for the contests and other surprises that await us during the Solar Decathlon Competition!!!! Check out the photo of some of our decathletes as they enjoy the sunset and emulate “Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper” (1932).

See you soon!

Goodbye Madrid!!!!!

The Decathletes and the B&W House are ready to win the Solar Decathlon 2009!!!


TeamSPAIN bids farewell to Madrid from the Alcalá Gate!


GOODBYE!!

Interview with Javier Serra

We hope you enjoy this interview with Javier Serra. The interview is in Spanish, but we've provided English subtitles for you.

TeamSPAIN in the news (again)

Hello everyone!

Yesterday was a great, great, GREAT day.

TeamSPAIN made a visit to its most prominent sponsor: The Spanish Ministry of Housing. We also spent a few minutes in the company of the Minister, Beatriz Corredor, who took interest in our backgrounds and future careers. The Vicechancellor of our University was also present. We parked our three trailers in front of the Ministry, at one of the main streets of Madrid, and were able to catch the attention of many passersby.



After our visit, we hopped on the trailers and went for a tour of Madrid, showing off our house and taking pictures of the Team as a farewell to the city that has seen this project grow to great heights.



The Black&House will be departing soon, and we are proud to say that we bid it farewell with style :-)

TeamSPAIN

Installations countdown!

Yesterday was an exciting day! We learned how to mount the white tarp that goes under our PV (photovoltaic) roof structure. The tarp must be folded very precisely, so learning how to dismantle the tarp was also essential.The result is spectacular!

Apart from that, we have been working on the façades of the house. The thermal panels were assembled separately and adhered to the walls. Other than that, the PV glass-glass modules were put together and framed. Little by little, we´re getting there. Important progress has been made on the electrical installation and plumbing systems, as well. The tanks are being connected, so now our technical room has a really neat look! It´s terribly hot here in Spain, but we are working as hard as ever. The results are great, as you can see from the pictures below!

Today: Interview with Luis Maldonado

Hello! Today we've interviewed our center's director: Professor Luis Maldonado. For those who are so inclined, we've included the interview below.

Unfortunately, the interview is in Spanish and we couldn't post it in English, but this seems as good an opportunity as any to learn our beautiful language :)

Packing up!

Have you ever packed an entire house, and all the equipment necessary for it as it prepares to embark on a two month journey across the Atlantic? And have had to also include the the equipment for the more than 20 decathletes who will be competing??? It's not that easy!!!

This has been a difficult task not only for the physical effort it requires, but also for the psychological effort, as we also had to inventory absolute everything... twice!!! Once in Spanish (for us and our customs) and a second time in English (for the US customs).

Trip to Tecnove

Hello dear blog readers! We have just returned from our trip to Tecnove. During this trip, we've packed every single item that needs to be shipped to Baltimore.

While we were at Tecnove, we also tested the PV (photovoltaic) panels. In order to do so, we had to connect all the panels that form the solar roof. Take a look below, and you'll see the final product of all our hard work: here's a photograph of our self orientated roof top!

I hope you all enjoy this amazing photo: it's taken a lot of hard work to bring you this product!

In a place called La Mancha…

This photo portrays the exquisitely beautiful flat and arid landscape of the Spanish region in the center of our country. This is where “The B&W House” is being built, in a town called Herencia, about 130 km from Madrid. The construction company, Tecnove (see photo below), has been helping us immensely in putting the house together. Next week, the house will be finished, and all the technical and architectonical devices will be in their places. During this past month, the architects and engineers have been very busy, and we've been trying just as hard to follow the building process. There is no doubt that every visit we have made to Tecnove has educational, and we have learned practical tips and tricks along the way. In sum, it has been an enriching experience!

3D Modeling at 300%

As you can see from these pictures, the creation of our wonderful 3D renders requires a lot of effort and even more resources. Here we can see Nacho working with three computers simultaneously on 3D Studio, thanks to the V-Ray plugin and Rhino3D!!

Cibeles Runway at the TeamSPAIN Studio!

Here at TeamSPAIN, we have become true fashionistas! We are in the middle of choosing our official uniform for the Solar Decathlon 2009 Competition! We are deciding on the cut, the fabric, the color and design.

So far, we have decided that we will be wearing two kinds of outfits: a suit and a more casual uniform that we will be wearing while assembling the house and doing hard labor during the Competition! The suits are for when we freshen up and show off our fantastic project!

Take a look at some of our Decathletes trying on our snazzy new suits!

Guess Where We are From?!

Our flag for the competition has just arrived! Now everyone at the Mall will know where we are from!

TeamSPAIN has arrived, and it's here to stay!

PS: In the picture, you have two of our Decathletes holding up the flag... Notice that the Decathlete on the right is Gabriella... from Potenza, Italy... but she is totally feeling the Spanish Spirit and is waving our flag with pride!!! (she better be, because otherwise...)

TeamSPAIN

Tubes & Cables

It is really magnificent to see how the elements of water and electricity, although different in nature, come together to form the installations essential for the everyday needs of a house.
The B&W's installations are not so different from those of other houses, except for the fact that they are massively more complex.
Electric wiring fits better, but results in a chaotic frame in the kitchen. Plumbing installations require big water tanks and careful positioning, and no matter how much we obsess over the details and play tetris with the tanks, the whole system still takes up an entire room by itself.

But we've got our creativity hats on and are continuously coming up with new solutions to space management.

TeamSPAIN

Shopping for "The B&W House"

We are preparing our house with all the furnishings that a cosy home needs. Paula, Irene, and our personal shopper Rául, popped into an Ikea store. They spent the whole afternoon there and were able to get most of the items from our list.

TeamSPAIN

His Royal Highness and... The Black&White House

We have fantastic news!!!

We are so, so, SO THRILLED to have received this news today: His Royal Highness, Príncipe Felipe, has agreed to be the Honorary President of The Black&White House!!!

This is a true honor and privilege for us, but it is also yet another sign of the impact that The Black&White House project is having in Spanish society, the media, and in promoting new trends in the building industry.

Now we're off to celebrate this momentous occasion!

TeamSPAIN

Wacom Boy

What’s up docs?

This is my little space where I draw all the funny stuff that you find in our Newsletters. I like to draw in Photoshop with my preciousssss, the Wacom Intuos Tablet.

Today I’ve finished drawing a new comic strip that will appear soon in the Fifth Newsletter.

So... stay tuned!!

***SPOILER ALERT*** (((Up!)))

Luis

How Wide is Your Angle?

Dear Followers... who says we can't do two things at once?

Today Jon was having lunch while interviewing the Decathletes for a video. At that same moment, he was also setting up a Twitter account, while taking outside shots of the School of Architecture. David was keeping him company along the way, except for that lunch part. Everything is going according to plan, and on Monday we will finish the interviews and start working on the graphics and art design.

It is interesting how much people change when in front of (or behind) a camera...

Lumus Maxima

The lighting team (Jordi & Victor) don't stop. We paid one of our last visits of the year to Philips today, as we are getting ready to program the lighting protocol for the automatic control system.

Today's acquisitions included a 7W LED bulb for our workstation lamp and 3 LED candles.

The 7W LED bulb caught my attention from the beginning. Its lumen flow is equivalent to that of a 40W tungsten bulb and it doesn't get hot. It also has a life of 45000 hours (45 times that of a common bulb!) and it still projects warm white light (3100K). And here's the best thing: when you buy it, it's already set to replace any ordinary bulb (unscrew the old one, screw in your new MasterLED). The only thing I am not happy about is that it is a bit heavy for its size. Still, I am simply amazed at how easy it can be to start saving energy. It's all about the small changes you make...

TeamSPAIN

Today's Interview

Today "La aventura del Saber," also known as "The Adventure of Knowledge," a very important program broadcasted on "La 2" and "TVE international" (two international broadcasting channels from Spain), is filming a special report about the Solar Decathlon 2009 and the Solar Decathlon Europe 2010.

The interview and the report will be shown sometime in September of 2009! We'll keep you posted.

TeamSPAIN

Tools, Tools, Tools...

Hello Everybody,

Today, Jordi and Katja bought a lot of tools and equipment for the House's construction site. Hammers, screwdrivers, generators, safety equipment, scaffolding, cleaning material, etc.

WE ARE READY TO ASSEMBLE OUR HOUSE NEXT WEEK

We'll see you next week on site!

TeamSPAIN