City Tech · U.S. DOE Solar Decathlon 2015

DURA Home

A solar-powered emergency-housing prototype designed and built entirely by undergraduate students at New York City College of Technology — diverse, urban, resilient, and adaptable, like the city it was built for.

DURA was designed to stack into multiple stories on a single NYC lot

The completed DURA house on exhibition, with visitors, media coverage, and the CITY TECH sponsor board out front

Exhibition opening

View of the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan skyline at sunset, taken from the architecture studio while working late on the project

Working late on the project, sunset over the Brooklyn Bridge from the architecture studio

Team DURA members posing together on the tarmac in front of a United Express plane, on their way to a Progress Meeting with all competing teams

On route to Progress Meeting with all teams

Team DURA members in green hard hats beginning wood-frame construction, with the Manhattan skyline visible across the water

Construction begins, with the city in the background

DURA house's vertical solar panel facade lit at dusk, with the Lower Manhattan skyline and Freedom Tower visible in the background

The 9/11 Memorial and the project building together

A team member shaking hands with an inspector holding the signed Building Inspection Record, inside the finished DURA house kitchen

Finally getting the Certificate of Occupancy, so the project could open to the public

Team member Langston Clark giving visitors a guided tour of the DURA house interior, standing beside the living wall and murphy bed

Team member Langston giving a guided tour

Full side view of the DURA house on exhibition, showing the angled solar array on the roof and south facade, with visitors lined up on the porch

Fun exhibition

The full Team DURA group posing together on the house's porch and deck, wearing matching black team t-shirts

Excavation team on-site

"For the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015, New York City College of Technology created a novel solution for emergency housing that was uniquely New York. Like New York City, the DURA house was diverse, urban, resilient, and adaptable."

About the competition

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

The Solar Decathlon is an award-winning program that challenged collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that were cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive. The winning team was the one that best blended affordability, consumer appeal, and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum efficiency.

The first Solar Decathlon was held in 2002, with the competition occurring biennially afterward. Team DURA competed in the 2015 competition, held October 8–18, 2015, at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California — open to the public free of charge across two weekends, giving visitors the chance to tour solar-powered houses and learn energy-saving techniques for their own homes.

DURA Home

Diverse

Urban

Resilient

Adaptable

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon