Solar [Re-con] Decathlon

Recently, 34 students from Architecture, Engineering, & Management visited our nation's capitol to tour the Solar Decathlon homes on the National Mall. These architecturally progressive, technically sophisticated houses present state of the art, modern housing alternatives that integrate solar electric, solar thermal, as well as many other renewable energy systems. Students canvassed the Mall to record and interpret each house in an effort to learn as much as they could in hopes of informing their own proposal for a house design for the 2011 Solar Decathlon. see more decathlon houses

Despite waiting in line for up to an hour in 40˚ temperatures and unending rain, the students held out and saw every house.  The Solar Decathlon gets better every year, and is a testament to public enthusiasm for modern architecture and renewable energy.  Special thanks to faculty and students of Virginia Tech for giving us a private tour of the LumenHaus; it was a highlight of our weekend Decathlon experience and was very inspiring. To find out more about the LumenHaus and the Solar Decathlon click here.

see more of the union station bike shopAmong other things visited in D.C. was the new Union Station Bicycle Depot, designed by KPG Design Studio. This new public facility is a jewel among jewels in the Nations Capitol. With an estimated $4 million construction cost (including site work), the bike depot uses three curved structural tubes with a laminated glass skin as an enclosure system. It’s passively heated and cooled and offers bike commuters a secure, dry place to store their bike while using the D.C. metro.