News Coverage

UNC Charlotte’s UrbanEden placed third in the people’s choice voting for the 2014 Matsumoto Prize for modernist residential design in North Carolina, sponsored by North Carolina Modernist Houses.

The Matsumoto Prize is named in honor of George Matsumoto, a founding faculty member at the N.C. State University School of Design (now College of Design) who is well known for many exemplary Mid-century Modernist houses he designed across North Carolina.

UrbanEden will be reassembled on the campus of UNC Charlotte in conjunction with the opening in August of a new Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools early college high school  which will focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The house will be used as an educational and research facility serving both high school and college students.

The Live Wire streaming webcast on Tuesday, October 22, featured two members of the UNC Charlotte Solar Decathlon team: architecture student Tommy Coggin and engineering student Robert Fornabaio. The team members spoke about their experiences at the 2013 Solar Decathlon competition. Watch the interview here.

Dr. Ian Ferguson, Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, wrote a poem and dedicated it to our UrbanEden team. The poem is titled "Light came from the east," an allusion not only to the sun, but to the Irish poet Seamus Heaney, who died recently. The full text of Dr.

The UNC Charlotte UrbanEden team won third place in the Engineering Contest of the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013, tying with Team Austria and Team Las Vegas with a score of 93 points. The award was announced on Saturday morning, October 12. The public XPO of the Decathlon ends Sunday, October 13.

UrbanEden and the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013 was the featured presentation at the September 26 meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Charlotte. Meg Whalen, Director of Communications for the College of Arts + Architecture, spoke to the group about the competition, the UNC Charlotte team and house, and the key aspects and benefits of passive solar design.

Ken Lambla, Dean of the College of Arts + Architecture, made a presentation about UrbanEden at a meeting of the AIA North Carolina Board of Directors on Wednesday, September 11. The meeting was part of the AIA NC Design Conference, held September 11-14 in Wilmington, NC. The theme of the 2013 conference was "Architect Activist."

UrbanEden was the featured presentation at the monthly meeting of the Charlotte Senior Scholars, an organization devoted to life-long learning. Meg Whalen, Director of Communications and External Relations for the College of Arts + Architecture and an UrbanEden team mentor, spoke to a large group of 236 people about the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013 and the UNC Charlotte team's competition house. The hour-long presentation took place at the Queens University of Charlotte Sports Complex on September 10.

UrbanEden's final walkthrough video presentation was broadcast on WCCB Charlotte on September 7 during the TV station's programming for halftime of the UNC Charlotte 49ers football game. The 49ers beat Chowan 47-7 in the second game of their inaugural season. UrbanEden was constructed just yards away from the university's new football stadium.

The UNC Charlotte Solar Decathlon competition house, UrbanEden, will depart campus on Friday, September 13. The house is comprised of four modules, or pods, which will be transported to California by Medallion Transport & Logistics. The house will arrive in Irvine, CA, on September 21.