solar decathlon

FIU just produced a video of the university's entry into the 2011 Solar Decathlon, sponsored by the US Department of Energy. The FIU project was terrific in a lot of ways, especially in the way it incorporated passive solar shading and hurricane protection elegantly. The project was designed by an interdisciplinary team of students, led by my architecture department colleague, Marilys Nepomechie and including Eric Peterson (who helped assemble the project in both Miami and Washington) and Brett Moss.

The accompanying news article is online.

solar decathlon

Models of the 20 finalists in the Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon competition are on view online at Jetson Green, a pretty good blog about sustainable construction.

A promising sign for Florida is that two entries come from the Sunshine State. Our favorite is the FIU entry. Check out their blog, or, better yet, stop by the site (one the main campus, just of SW 8th Street) before the house relocates to Washington in late September.

steel on the way

The structural steel starts arriving tomorrow, and erection should begin early next week.

In the meantime, check out the solar decathlon project at FIU. It's got a steel frame and a roof full of solar panels... it's just gorgeous.