Kansas State University's Gary Coates swears the students who chose him as their third-year design instructor this semester knew what they were letting themselves in for: sleepless nights, endless days and constant reminders that what they design, someone, somewhere will have to build.
In the case of his "instructor's choice" project, the Project Solar House, that "someone" turned out to include all of Coates' students from Kansas State University's College of Architecture, Planning and Design.
They worked alongside Todd Gabbard's fifth-year graduate architecture students to complete the design and construction of the house and ready it for transport. A delegation of Coates' students will help take it all apart after the contest concludes.
The "vertical integration" of older students mentoring their younger colleagues proved invaluable, said Coates, a professor of architecture.
"This has been a life-changing, and in many cases, a life-defining experience for them," Coates said. "Their understanding of not just the design of things, but of the building of them, has been deepened.
"They really get it. We don't have to preach to them anymore what happens when they don't get a construction detail right."
This semester gave third-year students their first chance to get involved with the solar house, which has been in the works since last year. But 16 of them signed on with Coates after he and Gabbard, an assistant professor of architecture, decided to collaborate.
"It became clear over the summer that the project would not be finished otherwise," Coates said. "So Todd and I agreed that to get this fish in the boat, we would involve the third-years."
Coates and other colleagues had offered critiques during the design phase last year, but "Todd is the project director," Coates said. "He took on the challenge of this international competition, found the funding and directed all aspects of design development and construction.
"He's chief cook and bottle washer. None of us who have helped him can compare in our contributions to the 24/7, yearlong commitment he's put in."
That intensive effort ratcheted upward during the first five weeks of this semester. "We just barely got things together with many all-nighters, and not just toward the end," Coates said.
The students formed "contest teams" and "work teams," Coates said. "We called them our white-collar and blue-collar jobs."
Contest teams developed strategies for succeeding in the 10 events of the decathlon, such as how to maximize mileage for the rechargeable electric car without damaging the house's photovoltaic system.
The half-dozen work teams -- the bathroom team, for example, and the cabinetry team -- tackled construction.
All teams were staffed with both graduate and third-year students. "It turned out that a number of my students had extensive background in the building trades, so they had more experience than some fifth-years," Coates said. "Both groups have been uncommonly dedicated.
"When you're out sweating blood with people, pulling overnighters, you form an incredible bond," he said.