CCA News
CCA and SCU, as Team California, Win Communications Contest to Maintain Lead in Solar Decathlon
Posted on Tuesday, October 13, 2009, by Brenda Tucker
California College of the Arts (CCA) and Santa Clara University (SCU), competing as Team California, maintained their lead in the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon this morning by winning the communications contest.
In addition to designing, building, and operating an attractive, functional, and energy-efficient solar-powered home, competitors must communicate the technical aspects of the house and the user experience to a wide audience via websites and the public exhibit on the National Mall in Washington DC.
The jurors praised Team California for knowing its audiences extremely well: "They paid particular attention to what these audiences' questions were going to be about, and they were very clever in the way that they asked questions to engage the different audiences. They also used different media presentations and thought about the different types of learners.
"Their informational signage was excellent. . . . The route through the house worked extremely well. The entire tour was well thought out and organized.
"They kept the educational experience at a very high level. . . . The team had a strong website with a great homepage that made you want to explore the site more. It was very easy to navigate. . . . The fly-through of the house was very well done and overall the content was outstanding.
"The team's communications plan featured a solid audience analysis and was simply a beautifully organized and well-written plan."
Collaborative Effort
Students from many different disciplines—including architecture, ceramics, engineering, fashion design, fine arts, furniture, glass, graphic design, illustration, media arts, interior design, and textiles—contributed to Refract House. From the California clay plateware to the fine art on the walls, the furniture, and the clothing in the closet, all of the elements of Refract House were created or designed by students. Particularly important to today's contest were the Refract House logo, website, signage, and print collateral designed by students in CCA's Graphic Design program.
About California College of the Arts
Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts (CCA) is noted for the interdisciplinarity and breadth of its programs. It offers studies in 20 undergraduate and seven graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts, master of fine arts, and master of business administration degrees. With campuses in San Francisco and Oakland, CCA currently enrolls 1,800 full-time students.
About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California's Silicon Valley, offers its 8,758 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's and law degrees and engineering PhDs. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice.
Images available upon request. Students are available for interviews. Contact Brenda Tucker of CCA (415.336.7528, btucker@cca.edu) or Connie Coutain of SCU (408.829.4836, ccoutain@scu.edu).
More information:
Team California's website
Solar Decathlon
Refract House Flickr stream
CCA Sustainability Blog
CCA Twitter feed
CCA on Facebook