Solar Decathlon 2025

As part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon 2025 – BuildingsNEXT Student Design Competition, our interdisciplinary team proposed a net-zero retrofit for an abandoned single-family home in Baltimore, Maryland, in partnership with Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm. The design addressed energy burden, food insecurity, and housing quality through a holistic systems-thinking approach.

The retrofit integrates a high-performance building envelope, passive and active ventilation strategies, urban farming spaces, a solar-integrated rainwater harvesting system, and a mobile kitchen within a repurposed shipping container. A special focus was placed on enhancing Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and addressing urban heat islands through sustainable architectural strategies and smart sensor integration.

This project aligns with the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home National Program Requirements and showcases scalable, resilient, and affordable solutions for climate-adaptive urban communities.