D.O.E. Race to Zero Design Competition
Spring 2015
This group project of nearly three dozen individuals, from a variety of disciplines and skill levels, was a competition entry to design a high-performance duplex while simultaneously an effort to design affordable housing for the community of State College, Pennsylvania. This dynamic circumstance gave our team an advantage and opportunity to design the duplex as realistic as possible, as we had a site, existing conditions, and a client, while trying to design the most efficient duplex possible.
The U.S. Department of Energy (D.O.E.) Race to Zero Student Design Competition is a yearly competition, available to students and faculty, to design an energy-efficient and cost-effective house. It must meet specific guidelines, such as the D.O.E.'s Zero Energy Ready Home program, ultimately concluding with a Zero Energy Building.
As a member of The Pennsylvania State University's team, I learned a lot about collaborating with people of other disciplines and working together as a whole to achieve a net-zero energy home through our submission, H4 | Heritage Homes: High Performance Living in Harmony with Community. In collaboration with a few teammates, I was responsible for the physical models and a few construction drawings.
In addition, we worked with the State College Community Land Trust (SCCLT) to design an affordable duplex for the community. Our team's goal was for the net-zero energy qualities of the home to enable it to be affordable for the community. Throughout the process, we had several meetings and presentations with the SCCLT, discussing several iterations of the design. In the end, it was a very rewarding experience to work with community members and see things from a different perspective.
Although the final design has continuously changed over the years, I am proud to say that ground has been broken and will be available for tenants to move occupy the homes in the spring of 2018!
