As the highlight of my Fall Break, Fatima, Red, Rachel and I drove up to D.C. to visit Solar Decathlon. Walking from the parking lot to the Mall, we took a detour through the National Art Gallery (?). I love Museum shops.

I had a throwback to the Louvre in Paris in I.M. Pei's new addition. It feels similar. The floating walkways, The quality of light.

And Solar Decathlon! As a brief introduction: US Department of Energy hosts this competition every 2 years. Schools bid to enter, and they get to compete by invitation. The house is very small (500sf?) but it needs to be entirely powered with solar energy. They design for a full year, but only 3 weeks for building the house on site (on the Mall), and the presentation for a full week for judging. It's pretty intense.

This is my first encounter with Solar Decathlon, but the energy is fantastic. This is Bike and Build Habitat Builds on steroids! Architecture students all frantically building these incredible structures in tense competition. Architecture with an edge.

U of Illinois design!!! Got to hang out with Priya because she's there as the engineering representative volunteer builder. Awesome.

Interior

I love subways. Subways mean big metropolitan areas of a specific population density. I've always loved density.

And I love gas stations. It makes me feel nostalgic for Bike and Build: oases of restrooms, electrolyte heavy foods, and water.

A Fantastic Getaway :)