Nest Zero Team Reimagines Plymouth Fishing Shanties at Solar Decathlon

A depiction of the newly constructed facility, as created by team Nest Zero

The team took third place in the international design competition

A team of Architecture students took home third place at the 2024 Solar Decathlon Design Challenge.

Organized by the U.S. Department of Energy, Solar Decathlon is an international competition. Students from 40 finalist teams this year represented 37 collegiate institutions and competed in one of four divisions: Single-Family Housing, Attached Housing, Multifamily Building, or Education Building.

Wentworth Associate Professor Troy Peters led a team comprised of students Noah Silva, Milo Oliva, and Aidan Morris in the Single-Family Housing Division. The team, dubbed Nest Zero, looked at old fishing shanties in Plymouth, Mass. and how to repurpose them for use by an unhoused family (consisting of a fisherman, an artist, and their young daughter).

In their project proposal, the team described "a dining room acting as a flex-space is featured in the core of the building. It doubles as an art gallery that can be closed off with curtains from the rest of the building when residents decide to open it to the public. The left side of the building has a covered patio which serves as a semi-public place, where the family can welcome guests into their kitchen for dinner parties. The opposing side of the building is far more private with two bedrooms and a bathroom. The child's bedroom contains a second floor with an office overlooking the ocean. Beyond the central core of the building is a courtyard, with each side of the new home acting as a barrier of privacy for backyard parties and cookouts."

The completed property would build the structures on wood piles, reuse the old chimney as patio bricks, add a new observation tower and roof shelter, and connect everything via a raised platform A view of the existing structures in Plymouth

The shanties are also close to the ocean, which presents flooding issues. To combat rising water levels, the Wentworth team designed a way to lift the structures, rebuilding sustainably with repurposed materials, as well as adding a water collection and filtration system.

The students consulted with a number of people and groups including the Plymouth Public Library, BF Architects, Tappe Architects, the Terva Corporation, and the Plymouth Community Preservation Committee.

Learn more from the full Nest Zero presentation.