The prototype construction phase started on October 24th with the Welcome Ceremony in Dubai, where all the teams participating were introduce to everyone. It was a great experience and something we have been waiting since 2019.
The assembly started on October 25th in which we had to take all the materials, equipment, CLT panels and more from the containers.
In case you missed our ship journey to Dubai, we had 5 containers, that arrived in London Gateway on September 10th, 2021, and then all containers got transferred to the NAGOYA EXPRESS, which arrived in Dubai on Sunday 12th, of September 2021.
Alex MacLaren, faculty leader, said: “I have been delighted by the support afforded us by the university and am excited to develop other experiences like this in future years; as a learning experience, but also as an urgent mandate to transform the ‘norm’ in our construction practices. So, who knows- next stop, Solar Decathlon Europe in 2023?”
The calendar you see below will be our journey everyday while in Dubai.
We will be building the house from October 25th to November 8th, which give us a total of 15 days to construct the ESTEEM house.
After that we will have the Opening ceremony where the public is welcome to see our house and interact with all the technologies and innovations we added to the design.
The exhibition time runs from November 11th to November 25th at Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, Dubai.
However, we will have virtual tours for anyone that is not in Dubai, you can book it with our Eventbrite link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/virtual-tours-at-team-esteem-house-dubai-tickets-202875916327
Martin Juricek, Architecture Leader, said: “Our build in wardrobe was completed and the kitchen fit out is well underway as well. We started fitting plasterboard onto walls in the bedroom.
“We focused on underfloor insulation, cladding and plant room equipment fit out. We run into a lot of issues and as it kept delaying our work we had to have a break where we discussed new more efficient ways of going forward. Overall, it was another difficult day on site but it got us further on the way of construction”
Alakbar Zeynalzade, AudioVisual Leader, added: “Working at the construction site is hard work in the heat of Dubai, especially near midday. Regardless, it’s meaningful work and I enjoy my time there.
“My role is to take pictures and videos whilst I’m there, but I also take part in the construction too. It’s fun solving problems on the site as they arise, e.g. missing piece of equipment so we have to be creative and work around it”
Ahmed Usaamah Ifthikhar; Construction Leader, explained: “The work we did on site helped insulate and cover some of the gaps from the inside and outside. It was useful in understanding how it works.
“We witnessed the wall panels get positioned into place and once this was done, we tightened the bolts. Every day on site helped me learn and understand more about how our building will function and how it will perform in terms of heat gain wise”
Pranav Chachara; Web Developer, said: “While this was a first time experience for me, I had a blast on site.
“Getting hands on with helping out around the house is super fun. I’ve also finally achieved my dream of being Bob the Builder!”
Zuhair Ahmed, Health and Safety Leader, agred: “We faced many challenges such as the inavailability of the labours on afternoon, while we managed to have good progress by ourselves looking forward to complete our house perfectly and win. Count down started and any minute would be valued.”
As you all might know; at Team ESTEEM, we like to innovate. Therefore, we have created our ESTEEM house in Minecraft. I know! It is amazing.
We work for almost 3 months planning, building, and refining our design which has allowed us to bring you the ESTEEM House in Minecraft. With the help of Apex Hosting, we are hosting this world for anyone to explore at mc.esteem.house.
We have also hide some little easter eggs for you to find along the way. You can find more information with this link ESTEEM Minecraft House! We wanted to show to everyone our house and give the opportunity for kids to see how engineering can be fun as well.
Have you heard of Augmented Reality (AR)? Yes? With the help of VRCraftworks, we have created a world where you can come visit the house virtually, interact with the materials and have a meeting with other people. Did I mentioned you can share your screen as well?
Our house was built by a team of innovative and inspired students and staff, and to showcase their hard work we developed augmented reality interactions placed around the house.
By scanning one of our many QR codes, users will be shown a beautiful 3D image on their smartphone, alongside text describing in detail the planning and decisions our team made in order to create a modern home.
And for those who won’t be able to view the house in person, our virtual reality model of the house will be available on Oculus devices for an immersive off-site tour of the house.
With the help of VRCraftworks, we have created a world where you can come visit the house virtually, interact with the materials and have a meeting with other people. Did I mentioned you can share your screen as well?
Use this link:
and you will be able to experience it yourself, TeamESTEEM members jump in and out of the world all the time so you might be able to speak to us as well!
We are working harder than ever as we approach the end of the construction phase.
In order to make the most of our time, we’re installing multiple parts of the house at once. Nearly all of our cassettes (insulation panels) have been attached to the house and we’re working with our sponsors to get the systems and electricals installed.
We need to be exact in the way that we connect our house up as DEWA will be monitoring and measuring our usage and generation which will impact our score! All of the parts of our 3D printed concrete Windcatcher have arrived and we are so excited to see it all together soon!
We are posting everyday about our progress on social media, please follow this link to see the #ESTEEMHouse: