Us Department Of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011

I went to this event last time in 2009. This year they moved it to «west potomac park» by the tidal basin. Signage was terrible, the website’s directions were sparse and we got lost several times trying to drive there. They did offer shuttles to/​from the Smithsonian metro though.
The houses seemed less impressive than in the 2009 competition but it’s not fair to judge the event on that. Overall, if you love architecture or design, it’s definitely worth it to go. You can tell the students are really passionate about their houses and they love explaining the neat energy saving, space shifting, technology advancing features of the houses.
I suggest they move the event back to the mall though for next time.

I went to this event Sat. 9÷24÷2011 and Sun. 9÷25÷2011.
Day 1 — I took the Blue Line in from the South to Smithsonian. There was a HUGE Book Festival going on at the mall and there were CROWDS, CROWDS, CROWDS of people. I asked a park ranger for directions and he pointed the way for a «nice leisurely walk» to the event (less than a mile away). Alright, it was hot, I had on jeans, I took a few wrong turns, East Potomac Park?, West Potomac park? where’s that pathway the ranger mentioned?. There were NO SIGNS along the way. Anyway, about 2 miles and 45 minutes later I arrive. Again, CROWDS, Long LINES at all of the houses, Long LINES for the food stand just to get water. There is no free water source here!!! Really, they should have called the Army NG and had them bring some water buffaloes over. I wandered around, in the heat. The houses looked great from the outside. Left early due to the heat, and decided to take the free shuttle back to the Smithsonian metro. They packed about 40 of us into the shuttle. Apparently the AC was out, it was a sauna. The windows did not open. The trip, less than 1 mile, took about 20 minutes due to the traffic. Brutal. I go down to the take the train at Smithsonian and the platform is packed on both sides. Seriously, there were thousands of people in the station. You couldn’t even get down the stairs to the platform, it was too crowded. I left and walked to another station; I don’t even recall which one.
Day 1 at this event kind of sucked.
Day 2 — I drove up from the Springfield area and found parking in a large Park Ranger? Police Lot about .5 miles away. Sunday wasn’t as hot at Saturday. There were crowds but not as large as Saturday. I walked around the entire event again and stood in line to see the inside of about 4 of the homes. All of the homes had lines, some moved faster than others but it took about 20 – 30 minutes from the time you stood in the line and then exited. I really wished I had seen more of the interiors, but I was becoming annoyed with the crowds and the waiting. I’ll check out their website for the details.
I imagine the best time to view these homes would be during the week. For those in the DC area, you could probably leave work a couple of hours early during the week and go check it out. Without the crowds, I imagine you could race through all of the homes in a couple of hours.
Next time, I’ll take a workday off to attend. Great event otherwise!
(Also, this had been held on the mall in the past, which was definitely more accessible, though not as scenic as this year’s location.)