This morning, the first 12 students to arrive from the team were all females! This was a point of amusement for the day. The Team New York women huddled inside the pod, seeking refuge from the cold, and shared a team breakfast.
Today we concentrated on the landscaping and engineering systems of the pod. The landscape modules, as well as wood and steel decking were unloaded from the truck and placed into the steel dunnage system, to form the rooftop garden of our site. The irrigation tubing was also placed into the planter bins. Speaking of planter bins, we have been watering our plants over the past few days to prevent them from getting fried out in the hot sun!
Our engineering teams arrived today to transport equipment into and outside of the house. Wiring and plumbing work is under way, and our professionals are on hand for advisement.
Team New York has passed inspections from team organizers as well. Additionally, both CUNYTV and a professional architectural photographer from CCNY, Albert Vecerka, are on hand documenting our entire process.
Team New York feels vibrant because we have many things going for us! First of all, we are a public university- we are a part of the City University of New York and become in a position to promote sustainability awareness to thousands of students! Secondly, we are THE youngest team. We are the only completely Undergraduate team, while the other teams are full of Graduate students. Thirdly, we can claim we are the most student engaged project. Students built the cabinets, they fabricated steel parts, they made material specifications, they designed and built their systems.. WE STUDENTS PARTICIPATED IN EVERY PROJECT PHASE! Fourth, we are the most diverse team in the competition! We represent many ethnicities from around the world! Fifth, every part of the pod is customized FOR the pod. From the customized truck (whose parts were rebuilt), to the customized structural frame for the base of the house, and for the support of the photovoltaic panels, we can claim our pod is highly customizable, and therefore innovative.
