Our client

The prototype for the Solar Decathlon 2017, has been developed for a household of two married adults, in their late 20’s, with a baby on the way, living as expats in the Denver Metropolitan area. While originally from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and enrolled members of the Nanticoke Indian Tribe, they are among the majority Native Americans who live as expats from their traditional territory in urban centers.

Overall attractiveness of the design to the target client

Decades of research on global climate change shows that human activities are adversely affecting our ecosystem and the stability of our climate. Native American communities are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change and it is important that through mitigating climate change that their cultural integrity be respected and they can succeed in a globalized society. We recognize the western scientific perspective on climate change is evolving to move more towards an understanding that affirms the global significance of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS). The principles of Agenda 21 reveal that sustainable development requires a conceptual differentiation that is able to meaningfully articulate scientific and indigenous forms of knowledge (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, 1992). Team Maryland believes that Native Americans can contribute valuably to more sustainable interactions with the natural world.

A western science-centric approach serves to produce new knowledge, however, it reveals little about context and outcomes. Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) are based upon learning derived from traditions, cultural practices, and rituals of everyday life and have been the foundation of knowledge systems for thousands of years. Team Maryland argues that western science and indigenous knowledge systems are complementary and enrich each other. The agency of cultural reclamation has been called “deep sovereignty,” i.e., agency in protecting core Indigenous values, knowledge systems, and ways of being. Team Maryland supports Native American deep sovereignty by engaging in relationships rooted in Indigenous practices and worldviews.

Team Maryland has identified complementary western and Native American ecological approaches. First, we are committed to a long-term perspective that examines issues at a scale relevant to the functioning of the various ecosystems that we inhabit. This is similar to the Seventh Generation Principle; we imagine the impact our sustainable technologies will have on future generations and on the sustainability of these ecosystems, and are not motivated by a sole design for output of products or the acquisition of profit. Second, like IKS we recognize Mother Earth as a living, breathing being. Through reACT, we have attended to how the air (Mother Earth’s breath) moves through the house through our unique heating ventilation and cooling system (HVAC) system optimizing thermal efficiency. We have brought the Earth into the house by incorporating portable living green walls and outdoor living spaces. Our commitment to water protection is evident in our water systems design, where each drop of water is accounted for and reused or recycled. While we recognize that our personal value systems shape ecosystem structure and function in various ways that can constrain, promote, or reduce sustainability, the adaptive technologies developed through reACT have been designed to improve our connection to local ecosystems. reACT is in harmony with IKS which recognizes that we as humans are intimately linked to all existence in an intricately designed web.