On Days 10 and 11, we are officially competing! Some of the contests we have competed in, include Hot Water, Lighting, Comfort Zone, Marketability, Architecture, and Engineering. The team remains confident, and morale remains high! The contests operate in such a manner that jurors visit the Solar Roofpod at a given time. A maximum of six decathletes from our team can participate in each contest.
Marketability was one of the contests that has an interesting story. We completely wowed the judges today because we were able to prove that our house is the only one in the competition with a permanent foundation. We have a structural dunnage system that allows our pod to be placed on a roof. We also showed the judges that we have a NYC building permit for the Solar Roofpod! Our house CAN ACTUALLY BE BUILT. What other team can say that? Exactly.
For the Communications contest, we were judged mainly on our public exhibit signage and website. Jurors asked us about our outreach plan, and were pleased to see the documentation of publications of Team New York.
We also officially began public tours of the pod. Many visitors are impressed by the fact that we are the only urban entry in the HISTORY of this competition and we have gained much popularity on site with this fact. There are so many unique features of the pod, and sometimes it grows difficult to express all of them, especially when we have to usher long lines into our pod. However, we believe the details of the craftsmanship and design speak for themselves.
We are overwhelmed by the fact that Team New York is currently NUMBER ONE in the People’s Choice Award! Keep the love and support coming. We received an endearing letter from Daniel Lemons, a great supporter of our team. He wrote to us, “First of all, congratulations on today’s accomplishments: passing the solar envelope compliance, not being over height and having no penalties on the assembly and inspection phase! Seeing the other houses struggling with assembly yesterday we know this is no small deal.”
We are keeping our heads up due to such a supportive network for the team! We are sticking with the “We can do anything!” mentality that our construction manager, Frank Sciame, has so lovingly instilled in us!