Research in and around the Ecohouse

The ECOHAUS is research project originating from the Ecohouse competition. It is designed, built and monitored by the German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech) to prototype a residential building that offers comfortable indoor conditions in Oman’s hot and humid climate and reaches an annual netzero energy balance. The vision for highly comfortable and netzero energy residential building was materialized through an integrated design process driven by climate responsive design strategies as well as energy and daylight simulations performed by Transsolar.” 

https://transsolar.com/projects/muscat-gutech-eco-house

For more information :

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317043626_Intermediate_Report_on_the_Design_and_Construction_of_a_Net-Zero-Energy_Building_in_Muscat_Oman

https://omanecohouse.livetozero.com/teams/gutech/

https://www.gyproc.ae/drylining-proves-winner-oman-ecohouse-competition

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GUtech Ecohouse ten strategies

Research in and around the Ecohouse

ADAPTEX || Customizable Textile for Architecture & Design ​

Intelligent-Adaptive Building Envelope Reactive To Ambient Temperature And Solar Irradiance

In August 2022, ADAPTEX project full demonstrator was implemented at GUtech in Muscat. In collaboration with Gutech research team, representatives from Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin (KHB), Priedemann Fassadenberatung GmbH and Carl Stahl ARC GmbH installed the solar shading system at the university’s ECO House.After the functional principle has already been proven by the development and testing of ADAPTEX Wave and Mesh prototypes, the system performances is now investigated at Gutech Ecohouse. Muscat in Oman, with its particularly high temperatures, offers an ideal climate for studying the system’s behavior under extreme conditions.Two different design concepts have been developed: ADAPTEX Wave is based on the deformation of textile strips, while in the Mesh design, two textile layers are differently superimposed to open or close the structure. In each case, the opening mechanism is enabled by the integration smart materials, in particular shape memory alloys (SMA).A decentralized sensor network is part of this installation, sending data over the cloud for long term monitoring, revealing how the system behaves during operation. 

Visit of H. E. Dr. Khalfan AL Shueili Minister of Housing and Urban Planning to the Ecohouse