Known as BeauSoleil, or sunshine in Cajun French, the award-winning home in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2009 Solar Decathlon was built not only with a focus on solar power but also with the local culture and climate in mind.

A team of architectural and design students from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette integrated materials into the solar home that were local, reclaimed, recycled and long lasting. That included extensive use of cypress, a native to the region and a conspicuous part of residential architecture in the bayou.

“We chose cypress over plastic, steel, cement and other species of wood because it’s naturally resistant to rot and decay,” says student project manager Gretchen LaCombe-Vanicor.  “It’s a beautiful material that ages gracefully, and it’s indigenous to our region.”

The home is designed in zones with the kitchen on one side and living areas on the other. Separating them is a transitional porch that is clad in cypress. Depending on needs, a transparent sliding door system can rotate 360 degrees around a track to transform the covered porch into a connecting 100-square-foot room.

Custom cypress furniture and doors were used to decorate the interior of the home. Siding scrap was repurposed as exterior planters.  Formaldehyde-free cypress plywood was used to fabricate the kitchen cabinets. 

In addition to passive design elements, the team used white oak flooring, low- or no-VOC finishes, low-E windows, energy-efficient appliances and lights, and low-flow plumbing fixtures.  Other green elements include solar water heating and electric systems as well as a water-collection cistern.

Perhaps most importantly, the home can withstand hurricane-force winds up to 140 mph, and it can be elevated in areas prone to flooding.  “All of the students who worked on BeauSoleil are residents of Louisiana, so we’ve seen the effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita,” LaCombe-Vanicor explained. “We felt deeply responsible for making a proactive response to the storms that plague our region.” 

Although not a requirement, the team built BeauSoleil to meet U.S. Green Building Council LEED standards. Students believe the home will earn a Platinum rating. “Our main goal was to build an energy- and resource-efficient home for Louisiana,” LaCombe-Vanicor said.  “We were much less concerned with winning specific competitions or the overall Solar Decathlon.”

Despite a lack of emphasis on award winning, BeauSoleil earned the People’s Choice Award and took home the top prize for Market Viability, for which the home earned 97 out of 100 points. As a result, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette team is working with a local builder to license the design for mass production.

For more information on the Solar Decathlon, visit www.solardecathlon.gov. More information on building with cypress is available at www.cypressinfo.org.