For a glimpse at what homes might look like in an environmentally conscious future, just head to the end of the pier at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where workers are hustling to add the finishing touches to a solar home designed to fit neatly into the dense urban landscape of New York City.
The DURA house -- which stands for "diverse, urban, resilient, adaptable" -- is an open-concept one-bedroom with features that make it a net-zero, weather-resistant living space. It's impressive by any architect's standards -- but this home just happened to be designed by undergraduate students at New York City College of Technology.
"To go from having to draw it to seeing it live is an amazing experience for them," says Alexander Aptekar, the City Tech professor overseeing the project.
Nearly 60 students have worked to finish this two-year project that will compete worldwide as one of 20 student teams in the Solar Decathalon. In early September, they will disassemble their modular home into three parts, which will then ship to Irvine, California for judging.
Amid the whirling drills and pounding hammers, NBC 4 New York stepped inside for a tour with Chantal Manning, a recent graduate from Brooklyn who was part of the original design team. She stressed the blueprint evolved around the concept of creating a home that could withstand a superstorm.
"We were devastated by Hurricane Sandy," said Manning. "If we're going to design something, we want to make sure it's going to be resilient against future storming and weathering."
To accomplish this, they designed a stackable unit that includes features like three layers of breathable membrane and air-tight sealing. They have tested it with blowers and so far are satisfied with the results. Of course ultimately a judge of the competition will determine if they succeeded.
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But they are looking beyond winning a competition, intent on winning over Mayor de Blasio with their concept.
"We really thought about something that's authentic for New York City," said Manning. "We want to make sure we're improving the lifestyle of people who live here and we want to make sure we're doing it in a sustainable way."
The DURA house is fully sustainable and net-zero, powered by solar panels. The students relied on donations of materials from suppliers around the globe to build the house, which at last estimate holds a value of $260,000 to $300,000.
"Best case, the city says great design, we want to build a whole complex of these in Brookyln, in Manhattan," said Manning.
Ultimately, they intend to donate this house to someone who needs it, like a disabled veteran. They'd also like to see this house return to Brooklyn, where they can evaluate their work -- and maybe even admire it, too.
