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" The Black and White House built by Team Spain, from the University of Madrid, intentionally &amp;quot;has a lot of things in it that express opposites,&amp;quot; says team member Luis Burred. Not least of which is the distinctive roof: an inverted pyramid balanced on a ball and socket mechanism above a cube-like main structure. (It is also tethered with wires at each corner for security.) The roof, which holds both 50 solar panels and solar thermal collectors, tracks the sun throughout the day, eliminating the role of a home&amp;#039;s latitude in maximizing its solar efficiency. The facade is wrapped in PV cells as well, bringing the total capacity to 15 kilowatts. Further pushing the concept of adaptability, the whole house sits on hydraulic jacks in order to accommodate sloped terrain. The house would be easy to grow horizontally or vertically, Burred says, and the roof could be purchased separately. For the contest, he says, &amp;quot;We wanted to make the smallest conditioned space and most volume for the solar panels,&amp;quot; so there are 46 square meters (495 square feet) of living space and 76 square meters (818 square feet) of surfaces covered by solar panels. As a result, the interior is cube-like, too, but it includes adaptations to make the space more flexible. The wall dividing the bedroom and bathroom from the living area is mirrored to make the latter feel bigger than it is. The center section of that wall, which has a flat-screen TV mounted on it, can be rolled anywhere in the room, revealing a Murphy bed. The mechanical room is concealed behind that. Automated louvers on the sides of the house let natural light filter into the room, but not excessive heat. Light filters in through translucent ceiling panels, too. The house traveled about 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles) from Madrid to Washington, D.C., in three pieces (the roof was also broken into three parts), including a three-week period on a cargo ship. On opposing walls in the living space are bas-reliefs of the street plans of the two cities. Says Burred, a graduate student in architecture: &amp;quot;We focused on the house as a meeting place for our two cultures.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a6403/4334042/>