Food, Energy, Shelter

Food, Energy, Shelter.

"Food, Energy, Shelter": A still from the film, of the UB GRoW Home - designed and built by students - rises behind Hayes Hall on the South Campus. The zero-energy solar dwelling returned to Buffalo after placing second in the top of the 2015 U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon.

The house of the future will likely take many forms. New materials, new construction techniques, and new in-home technologies will shape the spaces in which people live and the ways that they live. One form this might take is a radical pairing of high-tech energy-efficient design with a return to low-tech, at-home food production. To explore this concept, more than 450 students, faculty, staff, and partners designed and built the Garden, Relax, or Work (GRoW) Home, which finished second in the international 2015 Solar Decathlon. The GRoW Home broadens the view of what Buffalo's next generation of housing might be.

Visions and Works