Solar Decathlon on the Mall

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EERE: Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Home Page

DC-area listers, try to see this if you can.

I went to the last one, about four or five years ago. I took my bicycle, of course. You would not have believed the lines back then, so this time around, they must only be longer. Apparently, even yesterday, when the rain was absolutely pouring down in DC, people were standing in line to look at the houses.

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1. FIU students build a cool house with a sunny disposition

<snip> South Florida has a strong presence here. It's in the form of an 800-square-foot house that is among the most attractive of the contest's 18 entries. The home of glass and steel was designed and built by engineering and architecture students and staff from Florida International University. Two years in the making, the U-shaped mobile home was constructed in Miami, quickly dismantled at the end of September, then trucked to the nation's capital 10 days ago.

With 90 percent of its roof covered by solar panels, the furnished modern home is painted bright white on the outside. Rows of French doors create a wall of glass at the front. Bamboo wood floors keep it light and natural inside. The team of students who built it -- a cross-section of South Florida men and women whose families come from Argentina, Venezuela, Cuba and Japan, among other places -- says Miami inspired the design.

''We wanted the aesthetic to represent Miami,'' says team leader Robert Perez, 30, who graduated with a master's in architecture from FIU in April, but stayed on the project. ``It's very modern, very cool, very clean in appearance. There is very little ornamentation.''

The home even has a name: Engawa, a Japanese architectural term that describes the harmony of inside and outside space. Like some of South Florida's most distinctive mid-20th century homes, the house incorporates the exterior world into the living space. The front wall of glass is a physical, but not visual, barrier. Leading up to it is 600 square feet of composite resin and plastic decking, with two ramps on each side. The deck and the courtyard in the middle of the U-shape make the house seem much bigger, an illusion supported by the absence of walls between rooms.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/home/12844357.htm

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2. University of Michigan’s solar house team in international competition

<snip> For photos of the MiSo house, visit:

http://www.umich.edu/~miso/gallery/

For more on MiSo and the project, visit:

http://www.misohouse.org/

http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2005/Apr05/r040605a

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http://www.umich.edu/news/?Releases/2005/Oct05/r100605