Stainless steel solar shading LUMENHAUS

for facadeslidingperforated

Lumenhaus is an portable housing concept designed and built at Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design as part of its ongoing architectural research program. Inspired by the Farnsworth House by Mies Van Der Rohe, the north and south walls are all glass, maximizing the owner’s exposure to bright, natural daylight. The fully automated Eclipsis System, comprising independent sliding layers, permits a revolutionary design in a solar-powered house, while filtering light in beautiful, flowing patterns throughout the day. CREATING THE LUMENHAUS FACADE Zahner worked with Virignia Tech to develop the facade system, providing the engineering and fabrication for the project as part of the patented ZIRA™ System for perforating facades with custom patterns and imagery. Instead of adjusting the size of the perforation to create the metal image pattern, Lumenhaus was designed to create unique imagery through changing the angle of the protruding tab. By louvering the perforation, the visual contrast is increased between the negative dark areas and the light-capturing tabbed areas. This is the third solar house designed and built at Virginia Tech, but it is the first to win international recognition and press. In 2010, the project won the International Solar Decathlon Competition in Madrid, Spain. In January, 2012, it was announced that the Lumenhaus has won a 2012 AIA Honor Award for Architecture. This is the first time this award has been given to a university team.