Eine Gespräch mit Thomas Köhler von die Technische Universität Darmstadt

Beyond their Germanness and shiny corduroys, the Darmstadt team seemed a little foreign at the 2007 Solar Decathlon. Conceptually and geographically, their approach to the solar home they constructed seemed removed from other entries.

The Darmstadt team's motto was ostensibly the same as the Cincinnati Yellow Pages: Work Smart, not Hard. Thomas Köhler, the architecture student that designed the dwelling, decided that the house should be a "passive structure," meaning that either side of the house is donned with glass doors, The purpose behind this design is almost entirely for ventilation purposes: if the house is too warm, open the doors for a delightful breeze: if too cold, shut those doors and the sun filtered in through the doors will heat the house.

"Our first concept was to save energy and not produce a lot of energy," said Köhler.

In addition, the Darmstadt house has a paraffin ceiling. As the house is warmed, the paraffin melts, releasing energy so as not to trap in too much heat. As the house cools, the paraffin harden to trap the remaining heat.

As we all know, Germans are the best at everything and are quite possibly the coolest people in existence. As such, the Darmstadt team had the most unique and potentially marketable innovation in the house. In conjunction with the movable photovoltaic panels attached to their roof, the Darmstadt team itself custom designed and built their own PV panels for the front of the structure. They combined the panels inside a wooden trellis that bordered the south side of the house, created almost a venetian blind feeling.

Also, the team had installed invisible, surrounds sound speakers INSIDE (nestled in between slats) the drywall!

Köhler and the rest of the Darmstadt team were eager to participate in the competition surprisingly because Germany typically never hosts these kinds of events. "If you study [architecture], you usually just plan, but [only] theoretical, nothing practical," said Köhler, his beautiful teeth glistening in the sunshine's wake.

"It's really interesting for us to see 20 different types of houses which are thinking in different ways to deal with energy," said Köhler.