Solar house team shines in Washington, D.C.

A reception was held to show off the house to U-M alumni and congressional staff, including U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D), above left. (Photo by Mike Waring, U-M Washington, D.C. Office)

U-M's entry—known as MiSo* (Michigan Solar)—was erected on the National Mall in Washington D.C., and competed along with 17 other universities from the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico in a weeklong contest to build the best solar house. Each house was judged in 10 different competitions from aesthetic appeal to energy efficiency.

More than 200 students and numerous faculty members from eight colleges and departments helped design and fabricate the house during the past two years to help demonstrate the advantages of a solar lifestyle.

Gabe Keway, an undergraduate architecture student, and Moji Navvab, associate professor of architecture, worked on a solar thermal collector for the home Oct. 6. (Photo courtesy Solar Decathlon)

The team is a partnership between the Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, College of Engineering and the schools of Art & Design, Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE), Business, and Film and Video. "The MiSo experience has been my only opportunity at U-M to collaborate with architects and has been a success in cross-campus collaboration," says Emily Marshall, a graduate student research assistant in SNRE.

The team hopes to display the house in a prominent location somewhere in or near Ann Arbor and will continue to monitor its progress.