Carnegie Mellon University is committed to researching and developing practices in sustainable design. Over the past three decades, Carnegie Mellon has forged a global reputation in sustainable architecture, urbanism, product design and engineering. Within this context, the Solar Decathlon competitions of 2002 and 2005 have provided our students with invaluable opportunities for community building and experiential learning. Recognizing the challenges that lie ahead and the rewards to be realized from participation, Carnegie Mellon enthusiastically moves forward with this proposal to be a part of the competition in 2007.

Technical Approach
To guide the development of our entry for 2007, the team has agreed to a framework that emphasizes a set of fundamental Building Principles.

Design
Urban design is a fundamental sustainable design strategy and in combination with building-based sustainable design strategies including passive and active solar systems can create communities with an improved quality of life for current and future generations. The plug and play design in 2007 will demonstrate the ways in which basic building blocks can be re-configured to suit multiple contexts. The design for 2007 will once again be multi-level to increase useable floor area for a given footprint.

Technology
Enabling technology must enhance the quality of life for the occupants and improve the performance of the house. The plug and play technology in 2007 will be flexible and adaptable and once again implement the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Students). The basic parti will demonstrate the ?served? versus ?servant? principle.

Construction
As the homebuilding industry adapts to the changing marketplace, an increasing percentage of houses each year are produced through systems-building processes. The Pittsburgh Synergy entry in 2005 was a hybrid of modular and panelized systems. This solution enabled the house to be assembled in six hours and disassembled in four hours without compromising spatial/ aesthetic quality and building performance. The plug and play construction process will be further refined and implemented in 2007.

Operation
The three principles above characterize the first cost of creating housing, but represent just 10% of the life cycle costs of a house. The plug and play operation of the house in 2007 will enable its occupants to continuously upgrade and adapt the operating strategies of the house. The KISS principle is a critical step in creating a durable, adaptable, reliable operating environment for the house. The re-assembly of the house in Pittsburgh after the competition in 2007 will enable a long term framework to evaluate the success of the operating strategies.

Funding
The 2005 Solar Decathlon team was successful in funding the project in the amount of $400,000 including the monies for the permanent re-construction of the house on campus as the offices of the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research. The 2007 team will follow this same approach ? finding a non-profit ?client? in the region, working with that client to secure a major gift and then working with our existing friends and supporters to raise the balance of the funds. Our goal for 2007 is $500,000.

PROJECT GALLERY