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Would you live in a hexagon-shaped home if it was climate-friendly?
What about a dome?
Those are some of the designs chosen by student homebuilders from across Southern California and beyond who are competing in the inaugural Orange County Sustainability Decathlon at the OC Fair & Event Center. I talked to some of those students about their homes, and I spoke with event founders about how this all came to be, for a recent story. The free event is now halfway over, but there’s plenty of time to catch the second half!
During the first half of the decathlon, which ran Oct. 5 through Oct. 8, visitors got student-guided tours of the homes built by teams from UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Long Beach, Cal Poly Pomona, UC Riverside and more. They could also watch a fashion show with thrifted clothing, a falconry presentation with live birds, a symphony performance and more. If you missed it, you can watch the opening ceremonies and speakers from the first half of the event on the OCSD23 YouTube channel. Or hop over to Instagram to see highlights, including interviews with many of the student teams.
Here’s a smattering of online feedback from visitors who’ve made it out so far:
- “The students did such an amazing job. The future is bright!”
- “Good stuff!”
- “So neat to have this in Costa Mesa!”
- “Great job everyone! You make your schools proud!”
Now the volunteer crew behind the festival is getting ready for the second half, which kicks off Wednesday and runs through Sunday evening. Some key events for the second half of the festival include:
- Guided model home tours from 3-9 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
- An awards ceremony from 2-3 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday to recognize different elements of…
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