This summer, an 800-square-foot green house will be built in Park Jean Drapeau, designed by some forty Engineering and Architecture students from Montreal for the Solar Decathlon, an international contest that took place in Washington, D.C. in October 2007.

This smart / zero energy / green solar house was christened Lumen Essence and ranked 8th among the 20 student teams that participated in the contest. All materials, appliances, the structure and the architecture were carefully chosen to leave the smallest possible environmental footprint.

The solar house has a southern exposure to allow its 40 solar panels and its windows to absorb a maximum amount of the sun's rays. The "garden" wall on the southern side and the green north-side of the roof are used to keep the building cool and to recover rainwater.