April 13, 2021
Take a virtual tour of the K-State Net Positive Studio home in DOE's Solar Decathlon Build Challenge
Submitted by Communications and Marketing
K-State students and faculty are invited to take a virtual tour of the K-State zero energy home that is part of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2020 Build Challenge. The "Virtual Village" showcases the K-State team's home, being completed in St. John, Kansas, along with eight other innovative homes in the competition: https://www.solardecathlon.gov/virtual_village/.
A special opportunity geared toward K-12 educators and students will take place from noon-2 p.m. CDT today, Tuesday, April 13. The program is free but registration is required at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUscu-qpzgvHteDMeRwsy7A7wN9o5Llhp0M. Guests will be able to interact with student teams and faculty to learn more about the featured homes.
Feel free to pass this invitation to K-12 educators in your network who may be interested.
The competition was originally set to take place in Washington, D.C., last summer but was delayed and became a virtual event because of the pandemic.
K-State is one of nine university teams from the U.S., Canada, Europe and South America taking part in the build challenge. The teams have designed and built high-performance, low-carbon homes powered by renewables. Winners will be the teams that best blend architectural and engineering excellence with innovation.
The K-State home was designed, prefabricated and assembled by the fifth-year architecture studio led by Assistant Professor of Architecture Michael Gibson in 2019-2021. Gibson's Net Positive Studio worked with the Stafford County Economic Development to come up with a design for an affordable, energy-efficient rental housing to be built in St. John. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home includes a solar power system, high-performance vinyl windows and other features that make it highly energy efficient.