We were fortunate to have Solar Design Associates working on this project from the ground up. President Steven Strong (seen on the left) is recognized world-wide as a visionary in this field.

Steven's involvement in solar power goes back to the oil embargo days of the '70s. He had just come back from work on the Alaska Pipeline when he realized there had to be a better way to generate power.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy appointed Steven Strong US representative to the International Energy Agency as part of a five-year international collaboration on the development of PV systems for buildings. Representatives from some 15 countries including Japan, Switzerland, Canada, the UK and Germany are working together to further the knowledge base through the construction and evaluation of PV-powered demonstration buildings in each country.

His project manager, Rob Erb (on the right), not only designed the complex plans but also lived many-a-day with the contractor and subcontractors answering questions and pitching in. Since SDA was installing the solar systems, we benefited from having the architect "on site" week after week. I'm told that on most jobs, contractors groan when the architect makes one of his infrequent visits. In our case, the contractors groaned if Rob wasn't there.

"Where's Rob?" they shouted.

"I think he's up on the roof with the framers," they'd say, "or he could be down in the basement with the electrician or maybe he's on the scaffolding with the window installer." Fortunately, Rob was always somewhere to be found and his knowledge is encyclopedic.