A team of UT students created the SNAP House for competition in the 2005 Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C. The team was made up of graduate architecture students primarily but also included undergraduates from a variety of disciplines, such as landscape architecture and electrical engineering.
Solar Decathlon attendees check out the SNAP House�s kitchen and living room.
Bo McCarver stands with neighborhood kids Jesus (l) and Christian Martinez (r), who helped renovate the historic main front house this summer. Here, they’re standing on the back porch of the SNAP house, next to the solar water heater. Also visible in the background are the duplex’s two rain barrels.
Here you can see one of the duplex’s wheelchair-accessible gardens.
The SNAP House in 2005 at the Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C. � in the background are the Capitol (l) and Smithsonian Castle (r).
The original house, seen here at the Solar Decathlon, featured a green roof and a Texas flag.
The back porch, as seen at the Solar Decathlon
The SNAP House solar panels, up close
SNAP house living room
The breezeway
SNAP house bedroom
SNAP house kitchen
The SNAP house, seen here, is attached by a breezeway to the main house.
McCarver looks at the inverter aggregation panel, which, he says, “takes the solar energy and places it on one circuit that is then distributed between the two units of the duplex.”
McCarver sits on the SNAP house back porch with renters Stephanie Perrone (l) and her husband, Adam Freeborg (r).
SNAP house interior
The Harden-Solar Duplex on 22nd Street, as seen from the front
This article appears in September 12 • 2008.