Supplemental heating system
Students from the Boston Architecture School and Tufts University discuss the Curio House after the ribbon-cutting ceremony. From here you can see the innards of the heating and cooling system, including the ducts and the fan mounted on the ceiling.
In addition to using solar-powered radiant floor heating, the building will use an air-source heat pump (similar to a ground-source heat pump) for heating and cooling. The system, made by Fujitsu, is a particularly efficient system because it uses a variable compressor, students explained. That means that the pump can react to changes in the thermostat in a more incremental way, rather than simply turning on or off as many air-source heat pumps work now.
Also note the flexible ducting used on one end of the building. Because this structure has to be taken apart and put back together for the competition, the builders chose materials that make assembly easy.
September 21, 2009 4:00 AM PDT
Photo by: Martin LaMonica
