After ten contests held over a nine-day stretch in Denver, Colorado, the Swiss team was crowned this year’s winner of the Solar Decathlon competition. The team came in first place in six of the ten contests (architecture, water management, health and comfort, home life, energy, and engineering) and was awarded second place in appliances and third place in communications. Overall, it won the competition with a lead of 50 points. “Such a big gap is rare!” Linda Silverman, Solar Decathlon 2017 director, is quoted as saying.

The team took a risk with their solar community house, the NeighborHub. Unlike the other teams that proposed a family home, the Swiss team designed a shared space that helps build and sustain the community around it. 

“By demonstrating innovative solutions and providing a space to collaborate, NeighborHub has the potential to support Switzerland’s urban and energy transition,” according to the project’s description. Calling it a multifunctional space that can change to meet the needs of the community, “this flexibility ensures that, over time, the house will meet the needs of the greatest number of occupants while using the least amount of land and facilitating strong connections within the neighbourhood”.

The team consisted of 250 students – including 44 on the ground in Denver – from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), the School of Engineering and Architecture Fribourg (HEIA-FR), the Geneva University of Art and Design (HEAD), and the University of Fribourg, as well as 150 supervisors from the professional and academic sectors, and close to 50 sponsors.