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The BrightBuilt Barn is a net-zero energy super-insulated pre-fabricated structure in Rockland Maine. The building takes the form of a barn, a familiar vernacular building type in midcoast Maine, and is currently used as an office and working art studio but can be adapted to serve as a small house or another for another program. It is a total of 700 sf and is designed and built in 4' modules so that additional modules can be added to accommodate other needs. The building is unique for this area because it does not have a furnace or central heating and because it is able to generate more energy over the course of a year than it needs.

The project began when Keith Collins, the client - a doctor and medical services entrepreneur, contacted Kaplan Thompson Architects in 2007 and asked them to design a new workshop/studio structure on his property in Rockland, Maine. In addition to designing and overseeing construction of this building, Collins saw this project as an opportunity to bring together experts in a range of building related fields to explore how to use green architecture principles in a cold climate.

The BrightBuilt Barn has many green features made all the more unique due to its location.

Unique Green Features

Super Insulated

The structure is super-insulated which means that each component of the building, the walls, floor and ceiling, all achieve an R-Value rating of R-40. In combination with high efficiency fiberglass windows provided by Thermotech, this creates an unusually tight and efficient building shell.

Solar Thermal and Photovoltaics The roof of the BrightBuilt Barn contains 30 individual 32"x62" solar panels which produce approximately 20kWh per day. The panels are arranged symmetrically on each side of 60 evacuated solar thermal tubes,

Designers

The BrightBuilt Barn was designed by Kaplan Thompson Architects and was fabricated primarily off site by Bensonwood, a timber framing company in Walpole, New Hampshire. This type of off site fabrication is considered a green building method because it greatly eliminates waste in the construction process by allowing for computer assisted fabrication under controlled conditions; rather than onsite, outdoors in unpredictble weather and chaotic working conditions as in conventional construction methods.

Real Time Feedback

An array of LED lights around the lower perimeter of the building are programmed to glow in multiple colors depending on the moment-to-moment level of energy the barn is producing or consuming. At its most energy efficient energy level, when more kWh are being produced than consumed, the "light skirt" glows green; when more kWh are being consumed than produced, the "light skirt" glows red. The energy production and consumption are being tracked by real time data monitoring software which has a user friendly web based interface.

LEED

BrightBuilt Barn has been featured on many popular websites, including Treehugger.com and JetsonGreen.com, as well as several newspaper articles. It was also featured in Maine Home and Design in the spring of 2009 and in the same year won the USGBC "LEED for Homes Award for Innovation".The building LEED Platinum certified from the U.S.Green Building Council. This is the highest level of LEED certification, achieved by fewer than 10% of the projects certified by the USGBC.

Disentangled In a conventional houses electrical wiring and plumbing are run through the structural studs and beams. The idea of Disentanglement as put forth by Stewart Brand in his book How Buildings Learn, is that these systems are separated from the structure of the building. They are typically run through chases, raceways and conduits separated from the structural system so that systems can adapt and change over time along with the structure.

High Efficiency Glazing Systems Windows in the BrightBuilt Barn are triple glazed. In addition, natural light is allowed into the building through high thermal efficiency, light transmitting sheet polycarbonate which creates the effect of a translucent wall. Light is thereby allowed into the building during the day and the building glows from the inside at night.

"The Net Zero Home Line"

The buzz and interest created from the BrightBuilt Barn inspired Kaplan Thompson Architects to team up with Keiser Homes and design a line of affordable Net Zero homes that can be built either modularly or on-site. The line, Bright Built Home has nine base-models, all of which are Net Zero ready and fully customizable.