We are VIRTUe, a student team from the Eindhoven University of Technology. Follow us on our journey designing and building the most sustainable house at the Solar Decathlon Middle East 2018 in Dubai.

Our vision for cities of the future is that smart technology provides efficient personalized services, optimizes and monitors buildings and infrastructure, and increases collaboration between stakeholders on an urban scale. The social environment is like that of a small town; there is a sense of community, people treat each other with respect and build valuable relationships. Lastly, a perfect city puts a lot of emphasis on sustainable ecosystems, has a circular economy and uses its resources efficiently. Ultimately, all these things contribute to healthier, happier people.
In order to assure a healthy, comfortable and sustainable life for current and future generations, we will build a house and design an urban concept which connects people, technologies and the environment.

The city is an enormous contributor to the depletion of our environment: 75% of the world’s CO2 emissions from human activity finds its origin in urban areas, as well as about 75% of resource consumption. Next to this, cities cope with social problems such as increased loneliness, depression and crime rates compared to rural areas.
We believe that smart technology, combined with sustainable building and city planning, can help solve these problems: a smart home and city done well can provide increased communications, awareness and functionalities, facilitating a change from the bottom up.

We will work in a multidisciplinary team of students with the help of companies to design and build a sustainable home within a smart city concept. Through human-centered design we will create flexible, future-proof solutions that people can and want to use. We will use ubiquitous computing to create non-invasive smart environments both inside and outside the home that will manage devices efficiently and encourage sustainable behavior and social interaction. Finally, we will ensure our home is sustainable by using principles of the circular economy in choosing our materials, energy sources and manner of operating the home. The resulting design will function as a prototype and proof of concept that inspires people to move towards a more sustainable future, both in their professional and personal life.

Our concept is LINQ, a home in which all processes and devices are connected by one smart system. This system facilitates communication between all systems, which allows them to function faster, smarter and more efficiently. Additionally, through interaction, the system will adapt to the user and the user will learn to live a more sustainable and healthy life with the help of the system.
The house itself will be built using sustainable materials and will be extremely energy efficient. It will function within a smart city concept, designed to encourage social interaction and create sustainable ecosystems.