Structural design of the 2013 Santa Clara University Solar Decathlon 'radiant house'

The Structural Team for the Santa Clara University Solar Decathlon 2013 Radiant House achieved the task of designing a structurally operative, yet efficient, innovative, and sustainable house that satisfies the needs of everyone from Team Radiant House. The loadings to be considered in the structural design were: dead load, live load, wind load, seismic load, and roof load. The house design implements a classic system of joists, beams, studs, and shear walls to transfer loads to the piers, and finally to the foundations, in combination with a steel framing system to direct loads, increase stiffness and simplify connections for ease of construction, and transportation. The house was designed in softwood timber, with the intent of switching the material to bamboo in the joists and shear wall elements, an intent which was achieved in accordance with the success of other senior design groups. Santa Clara’s 2013 Solar Decathlon Radiant House uses the structural engineering as a crucial element in showing new methods of sustainable development and design looked for in the Solar Decathlon Competition.