Freestone Astonyshine Solar Decathlon House by Arts et Métiers ParisTech is a High Performance Prefab

There are many excellent teams competing at this year's Solar Decathlon in Europe, but the team behind the <a href="http://www.astonyshine.com">curvy Astonyshine home</a> - <a href="http://www.ensam.fr/en/">Arts et Métiers ParisTech</a> - has already distinguished itself. Using <a href="http://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00257b.htm">freestone as the main material</a> for their solar-powered home not only improves the project's energetic efficiency and performance, but also lends a classical aspect to the otherwise modern <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/prefab/">prefabricated design</a>.

The freestone Astonyshine house is a cut above the rest

Although there are many great teams competing at the SDE 2012, Arts et Metiers has distinguished itself with a simple, straightforward design

Prefabricated and clad in freestone, the building has superior energy efficiency

This team has combined both PV and thermal solar energy to help drive down costs and boost performance

The team is currently in Madrid putting all of the project's components back together again

We're really looking forward to seeing the final product in person next week. Stay tuned!