The Swiss Team took first place overall in the 2017 Solar Decathlon, which concluded its nine-day competition in Denver on October 15. The Swiss won by designing, building, and operating the house that best blended smart energy production with innovation, market potential, and energy and water efficiency.

The University of Maryland took second place followed by the University of California, Berkeley and University of Denver team in third place. (Read "Solar Decathlon Tests Creative College Teams.")

Swiss entry at Solar DecathlonThe teams competed in 10 contests that gauged each house’s performance, livability and market potential. They performed everyday tasks including cooking, laundry and washing dishes, which tested the energy efficiency of each house.

The Swiss Team took first place in engineering with a perfect score of 100 possible points. For the Engineering Contest, each competing house was evaluated by a group of prominent engineers who determined which house best exemplifies excellence in innovation, system functionality, energy efficiency, system reliability, and documentation through their project manual and construction drawings.

The jury that evaluated the engineering component said that the Swiss house offers "comprehensive performance modeling that sports clear graphs, detailed explanations and a variety of representations. The quality of the thermal envelope is exceptional and carefully calibrated to the target climate with very good resistance to heat flow, a solid focus on air-tightness, and high-quality components such as triple-glazed windows and sliding doors.”

University of Nevada, Las Vegas claimed second place in the Engineering Contest with 98 points, and Northwestern University took third place with 95 points.

Northwestern also took first place in market potential by scoring 92 of 100 possible points. For the Market Potential Contest, each competing house was evaluated by a jury of professionals from the homebuilding industry that evaluated the overall attractiveness of the design to the target client and the market impact potential of the house.

Some of the criteria included appeal and marketability for the target client, the livability in meeting the target client’s unique needs, the house’s cost effectiveness, and how easily the competition prototype could be constructed successfully by a general contractor.

Team Netherlands claimed second place in the Market Potential Contest with 90 points, and Team Daytona Beach took third place with 85 points.

The 2017 collegiate teams were chosen nearly two years ago through a competitive process. The selected teams and their projects represent a diverse range of design approaches, building technologies, and geographic locations, climates and regions – including urban, suburban and rural settings.

They also aimed to reach a broad range of target housing markets including empty nesters, disaster relief, low income, multigenerational, single family, and Native American communities. Teams have gathered their combined interdisciplinary talents to design and build the houses, as well as to raise funds, furnish and decorate the houses, and optimize the houses’ performance.