Team members put up the Solar Panels so the house can finally get power!

Solar panels are starting to go up. It took us a couple to tries to get it oriented just right.

The LEAFHouse team paid a visit to S.J. Morse to check out the Cupiuba.

Insulation! It's here and it's ... everywhere. Today marks a big milestone for the LEAFHouse team as we sit back and watch our rough-in work be enveloped by amazing soy-based foam.

Team members visted Red Wiggler Community Farm, where the 2005 house is being used. Red Wiggler Community Farm is a non-profit organization that creates meaningful jobs for adults with developmental disabilities in Montgomery County MD.

A majority of the translucent Nanogel-filled skylight was installed on the ridge of the roof today, and it looks beautiful!

Team members started the translucent skylight system install by putting together basic extrusions that make up the skylight system itself.

John Cartagirone put a (very precise) hole in the side of the building. What else is there to say?

(Electrical boxes for outdoor lighting were installed today)

A group from Women In Engineering @ The University of Maryland visited LEAFHouse today and learnt about the structure of the house and the systems inside it.

Team member Matthew Caplins presented the status of the Liquid Desiccant Wall to the rest of the team.

Electrical rough-in started today, and the installation of the exterior locally indigeneous FSC-certified Eastern White Pine continued.

A majority of the Warmboard radiant floor panels were installed. Channel 9 also paid a visit to learn more about LEAFHouse.

FSC-certified Eastern White PinesSiding was sanded and stained and sanded and stained ... The Beyond Productions crew also paid the team a visit during our evening meeting.

Team members worked with roof Top-side Seal-Tight Specialist John Sealover to put up the first few layers of the insulation on the roof. No more tarp on rainy days!

Team members stayed late into the night to finish the metal siding and work on the plumbing rough-in.

Team members with help from Professor Garth Rockcastle put up a major portion of the metal siding.

The LEAFHouse team started their first summer meeting inside the house. The meeting's main objective was to report out and identify work to be done over the next few months.

Sanyo's Dr.Yukinori Matsumoto visited us along with his host Dr. Reinhard Radermacher. Dr.Matsumoto was key in shaping Sanyo's donation of solar panels to LEAFHouse.  He came to the site today to meet the team, to learn more about the innovative design of LEAFHouse, and to see the construction progress of the project.

Baltimore's EcoFestival was an opportunity to promote the house and spread the word about the competition. 

Each year, the University of Maryland hosts "Maryland Day" in the spring. The LEAFHouse members had their own tent and introduced the house to visitors on the mall.

Regular Thursday team leader meeting.

Team leaders Brittany Williams, Kim Singleton and Aditya Gaddam presented the LEAFHouse to members of the Engineer's Club of Baltimore. Advisor Rob Murray also joined us.

Team leaders Brittany Williams, Kim Singleton, Jake Zager, Rob Murray and Aditya Gaddam went to Baltimore to show off the LEAFHouse at an event for Urbanite magazine.

Day 2 of putting the walls of the house up.

Day 1 of putting the walls of the house up.

On April 4th, 2007, the LEAFHouse team hosted the LEAFHouse Groundraising event at the University of Maryland to introduce the house and its construction to the public.

Team members interested in working on the site are required to sit through safety training sessions. Today was the first one.

Team leaders and Faculty Advisers drove over to Annapolis to present LEAFHouse at the Annapolis City Hall.

Steel finally arrived on the site. So did a nice toy from United Rentals. So, the LEAFHouse team worked Friday and Saturday to place and level the steel beams on the cribbing.

Students  came out to the site this last Saturday, February 24th,  to put up the cribbing for the house.  With the help of  all the members who came out to help, we finished in about 3 hours.

The Spring semester just recently started, and along with it came another group of eager, wide-eyed students willing to absorb everything about the LEAFHouse and get to work.

The house is finally in the beginning steps of fruition. Today, LEAFHouse team members erected the site fencing for the project in the bitter February cold at 9:30 am, thanks to the donated services and materials of Hercules Fencing. Three Hercules employees worked along side students.

Winter break at the University has just passed, and for many of us on the team, it hardly seemed like a break at all. It was a chance for team leaders and faculty to put a pause on classes, exams, projects, and school altogether to focus on the house.

On a Saturday morning, 30 students from the LEAFHouse team gathered at the Green Building Institute in Jessup, Maryland. The weekend work session was an opportunity for engineering and architecture students to collaborate outside of the classroom. Lasting over four hours, the workshop provided the team with undisturbed time - longer than a typical class period - to continue development of the house design.

LEAFHouse Project Managers Brittany Williams, Kim Singleton, and Nirmal Mehta participated in the October Department of Energy (DOE) conference call. The purpose of the monthly call by the Solar Decathlon contest organizers is to coordinate and disseminate information the participating schools.

The regular Tuesday night team meeting began as the architects and engineers started off the class period in separate rooms. Faculty Advisors Amy Gardner and Julie Gabrielli met individually with the architecture students providing one-on-one feedback on drawing assignments. Mentor Dan Vlacich gave a presentation in the neighboring room to the engineers.

On a Thursday night, students, professionals, neighbors, and friends descended on an aging industrial warehouse complex in Edmonston, Maryland. A large crowd of cars was an unusual sight for that time of day – their owners were not working late, but attending the Equinox Event.

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, ten Faculty Advisors, Mentors and Student Leaders gathered to update the LEAFHouse project schedule. Resisting the temptation to be outdoors, the group spent over two hours discussing upcoming team tasks.

Another regular Tuesday night meeting began smoothly as the Architecture and Engineering students met independently. The Architecture Team, tasked from the previous week to demonstrate their understanding of the house by designing promotional materials, reviewed several schemes.

The LEAFHouse team reconvened on Tuesday night at the Architecture Building. With over 60 students and mentors in attendance, the team continued the collaborative, interdisciplinary work begun in the previous semester.