Drexel Smart House recently concluded the first phase of its design competition for its 35th and Race St., Philadelphia home. Many Drexel students from across the university entered the competition, but only four teams were able to meet the extensive requirements for entering their designs. College of Engineering students Joseph Andracchio and Matthew McRae focused on the technology side of the project, identifying many great technologies and ideas that the Smart House team had never thought of before. The one-man architecture team of Nicholas McDonough created a well thought out design that did a very good job of maintaining the history of the house.

The second place team of Aleksandra Wolchasty, Darby Kline, Kara Haggerty, all architecture students, came up with a beautiful design that “seeks to strike a balance where sustainability efforts can work in conjunction with emerging technology.” They accomplished that and more. The design has green outdoor space on every floor, and the house has a skylight in the center allowing for a large amount of natural light throughout the entire building. The team won $200 for their efforts.

The first place team of Carly Litofsky and Patrick Hoffman, also architecture students, created a design that took the entire site into account by creating a beautiful backyard that transitions into a stone patterned glass indoor green space. This team did a great job of preserving the character of the house while adding features that caused the design to stand out from the original home design. The team won $600 for their efforts.

Both the first and second place teams will move onto a second phase of the design competition. During this second phase, the teams will be expanded to included engineering, construction management, and other students from many majors at Drexel University. Additionally, the teams will work with many professors throughout Drexel and consult industry experts. The teams will compete with each other to develop two fully developed designs. One of these designs will become the Drexel Smart House. The second phase of the competition should conclude at the end of Spring 2008.
More info on the designs can be found at the main website.