Team ZEROW
Rice Solar Decathlon began as an entirely student-run initiative in Spring 2006 and has grown into a large-scale collaboration between Rice’s Schools of Architecture and Engineering.

Our team is composed primarily of students from these two schools, but many students have also joined from the School of Natural Science and the School of Social Sciences. Our diverse student team has come together under the leadership of three student leads, as well as our experienced faculty advisors, as a part of a larger initiative for interdisciplinary cooperation within Rice University's Vision for the Second Century.

Rice Building Workshop
The ZEROW HOUSE team is a part of the Rice Building Workshop. Since 1996, the Rice School of Architecture, through the Rice Building Workshop, has had the goal of bringing students of architecture out of the studio and into the larger community, where their creativity can be challenged by the demands of real-life practice. More than 300 students at all levels have had the opportunity to work with real clients to realize actual projects within the community.

Student Leads

	Roque Sanchez Engineering Lead Roque, class of 2009, began the Solar Decathlon Club his freshman year, determined to do a solar project for the 2009 competition. After four years of work (and graduation from Rice with a degree in Environmental Engineering), the ZEROW HOUSE is fully realized. Roque designs, installs, and sometimes even fabricates both our solar and traditional house systems, as well as keeps everyone motivated on site.
	David Dewane Architecture Lead David came to the ZEROW project in Fall 2008 as a force to be reckoned with, and has been our Architecture Lead ever since. Now in his master's thesis year in Architecture, David has a hand in almost every aspect of the project, from design to construction, as well as presenting the ZEROW HOUSE to multiple organizations in the Houston area.
	Allison Elliott Communications Lead As the dedicated head of the Communications Team, Allison coordinates and executes an almost innumerable number of tasks for our team. A senior Economics and Hispanic Studies major, Allison not only leads our communications and logistics efforts with ease, but also can be found helping with design and construction on site.

Current Students

Diana Ang Architecture	Courtney Benzon Architecture	Rachal Dewane, Architecture
Ashley Hinton Architecture	Chai Jinge Architecture	North Keeragool Architecture
William Li Engineering	Kevin Lin Architecture	Cassie Lopez Engineering
Cherry Miao Architecture	Megan Mills Architecture	Ali Naghdali Architecture
Naoki Nitta Engineering	Kathryn Pakenham Architecture	Becca Sagastegui Engineering
Charles Sharples Architecture	Jon Siani Architecture	Rebecca Sibley Architecture
Kimo Spector Engineering	Judd Swanson Architecture	Colin Ward Architecture
Jessy Yang Architecture	Aron Yu Engineering	Tsvetelina Zdraveva Architecture

Past students

Faculty advisors

	Danny Samuels Architecture Faculty Danny is the director of the Rice Building Workshop and co-founder of Taft Architects. With Nonya, his work with students through the Rice Building Workshop has resulted in a stream of realized projects over the past ten years; 200+ students have designed and built projects at various scales in the community.
	Nonya Grenader Architecture Faculty Nonya is a Professor in Practice and the associate director of the Rice Building Workshop. Principal of her own small firm, Nonya's recent projects have received design awards from AIA/Houston and from the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance. She has served as President of the Rice Design Alliance and as editor and a contributor to their publication, Cite.
	Brent Houchens Engineering Faculty Brent is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. Also a Resident Associate at Wiess College, Brent brings an incrediblae amount of enthusiasm, skill, and knowledge to the engineering students and Team ZEROW.

Team organization

Our team is organized around the three areas of Architecture, Engineering, and Communication, each headed by a Student Lead. These areas are divided into the multiple groups that keep Team ZEROW running:

Construction
Communications and Events
Technical Systems
Transportation Logistics
Set-Up and Take-Down
Travel Logistics
Furnishings, Fixtures, & Equipment
Compliance & Safety
Project Row Houses Site & Permitting
Sponsorship

Construction Sites

Rice University Campus
Construction for the ZEROW HOUSE began at Rice in October 2008 and has run through September 2009. The construction site was located across from the intermural fields, near Hanszen and Wiess Colleges, and is adjacent to the Construction Information Center.

Our working hours were Tuesdays & Thursdays from 1 to 5 pm, and Saturdays from 9 am to 5 pm.

Washington, D.C.
The ZEROW HOUSE will be installed on the National Mall beginning October 1, 2009, and will be open for ten days of public tours beginning October 8. Reconstruction of the house will take five days, and will require no heavy machinery after a crane moves the house from an 18-wheeler to the site. Only hand-held tools and good, old fashioned hard work will be used after this. A small team of about 8 students will be in charge of construction in Washington, D.C.

Project Row Houses
After the Solar Decathlon competition in Washington, the ZEROW HOUSE will be transported back to Houston to our site at Project Row Houses, where our team will set up a temporary construction site to permanently install the house.