RISD-designed house placed in Portsmouth

PORTSMOUTH – A house that students at Rhode Island School of Design constructed for a national solar competition has found a permanent home at the Catholic boarding school Portsmouth Abbey.
Construction workers at the school have been laying the foundation for the 800-square-foot energy-efficient solar house, a donation from RISD that is slated to be used as faculty housing. Newport Collaborative Architects Inc. has agreed to donate its services to add another 800 square feet of living space to make the building more practical.
The architectural firm is also softening the structure’s radical contemporary design.
With the help of Wilbur Yoder and Jonathan Knowles, both RISD professors, RISD architecture students designed and build the house for the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.
RISD approached Portsmouth Abbey School about donating the house because of boarding school’s interest in renewable energy. The school has a wind turbine on campus. &#8226