Skip navigation
Large photo of a Natural Fusion Model. The Architectural Group and 1st year Architectural Students created this model, which displays the south facade and roof of the home surrounded by a green landscape.
Large photo of the Construction Site.  Self-adjusting solar photovoltaic tracking arrays and Beaver Stadium are on either side of the Construction Site.
Large photo of the Natural Fusion team surrounding the
Large photo of the Natural Fusion team, all thumbs up, surrounding the
Large photo of Jeff Rayl, Kyle Macht and Stephen Peluso, all wearing a white or blue construction hat, safety glasses and holding tools depicting "Charlie's Angels."
Large photo of Keith Holmes, Kyle Macht and Brian Goodykoontz at Professional Building Systems, a modular home builder. The three of them give the thumbs up.
Large photo of the top portion of the West facade of the Natural Fusion home in April. The timber frames, area for the South doors and the entrance on the West facade are depicted. This photograph displays the house after its construction at Professional Building Systems, a modular home builder. A blue sky is in the background.
Large photo of the South facade of the Natural Fusion home in April. The top portion of the timber frames and area for the South doors to be installed is displayed. This photograph shows the house after its construction at Professional Building Systems, a modular home builder, in front of a blue sky and a stream of thin white clouds.
Large photo of the Team Leader, Kyle Macht, cutting a red ribbon that is aligned horizontally along the South facade. The Faculty Director, Dr. Jeffrey Brownson, is behind him, holding the ribbon so that Kyle can cut it with a pair of scissors. Presentation boards of architectural designs and the names of Natural Fusion sponsors are behind them and within the home.
Large photo of the team with sponsors standing on a deck, all smiling and wearing semi-formal clothing. From left to right stands Mr. and Mrs. Macht, Kyle Macht, Gretchen Miller, Alyce DiLauro, Pete Horwath, Sean Miller, Arnoud van Houten, Brian Goodykoontz, Kanis Glaewketgarn, Dr. Jeffrey Brownson, Dr. Robert Kumpf, Keith Holmes, Val Boudreaux, Rich Kelly, Jim Gawthrop, and Dan Sutton.
Large photo of the Special Events team, all wearing sunglasses and smiling in front of the newly delivered house from the modular home builder, Professional Building Systems. From left to right stands Alexa Pancza, Alyce DiLauro, Jennifer Oliver, Gretchen Miller and Katrina Kumpf.
Large photo of Kanis Glaewketgarn, the Lighting Project Manager, walking around within the home planning for the house lighting. Two other members of the team can be depicted within the home.
Large photo of six male members of the team sitting within the home with construction hats on and all elbows on their knees. From left to right sits Eric Goodykoontz, Jim Gawthrop, Tom Rauch, Dan Strikowsky, Glenn DeAngelis, and Stephen Peluso.
Large photo of Luke Witmer, the Energy Modeling Project Manager, giving two thumbs up in front of our house with a wide smile. Keith Holmes is walking around in the home to the right of Luke.
Large photo of Dan Sutton, a Architecture Co-Project Manager, giving a thumbs up in a dumpster with sunglasses on and a pencil hanging next to his ear. All the while, he is smiling.
Large photo of Kyle Macht and Edward Lerner both smiling, eyes looking at the camera with their hands up high above their heads in a high five position. Behind them is an area for construction inside a building.
Large photo of members smiling on a day to install windows on the South facade of the home. All are wearing construction gear. The black framed windows are against the wall within the home. From left to right: Jim Gawthrop, Keith Holmes, Brian Goodykoontz, Val Boudreaux, and Rich Kelly.
Large photo of Jeff Rayl, Electrical and Photovoltaic Project Manager, redefining tree hugger by hugging the frame of the South facade with a GQ look on his face, dressed in a white sweatshirt and construction hat with safety glasses on.
Large photo of Kyle Macht, the Team Leader, wearing a white t-shirt and construction hat. Facing the South side of the house, Kyle is overlooking the scenery from inside the home through his safety glasses with one hand leaning against one of the columns of the timber frames. The Center for Sustainability and self-adjusting solar tracking arrays stand out in the green and mountainous landscape.
Large photo of Val Boudreaux and Jim Gawthrop prepping for the folding doors on the South facade. Both have focused expressions while working. A green landscape exists in the background.
Large photo of Jim Gawthrop, Dan Sutton, Rich Kelly, and Brian Goodykoontz all smiling through an open door on the South facade. The surrounding green landscape is reflected within the glass of the windows with a blue sky and white clouds in the background of the house.
Large photo of a tight shot of the gray cylinder shaped solar photovoltaics with a beam of sunlight arched across the surface.
Large photo of Jeff Rayl, the Electrical and Photovoltaic Project Manager with Robert Pro Jr. giving thumbs up to solar energy. Standing, they are both wearing construction hats and a wire fence and a tool trailer is behind them.
Large photo of Brian Goodykoontz, the Construction Project Manager, smiling with a construction hat and safety glasses while laying beneath the solar photovoltaics on the roof.
Large photo of the gray solar photovoltaics on the roof. The PVs are elevated on the roof and are enlarged at the top of the photograph and extend to the center of the page so that the PVs appear to be narrower.
Large photo of Eric Goodykoontz, Jim Gawhtrop and Val Boudreaux are all smiling with their white construction hats and safety glasses. These members are in front of the flat plate collector on the side of the house that is part of the thermal mass system.
Large photo of our Solyndra Panels on top of the Natural Fusion home. There are 40 bluish-black cylinders in one panel that easily connect to other panels that create a cool lighting effect.
Large photo of Daniel Sutton and Rich Kelly attaching the reclaimed flooring. Dan Sutton, in a blue shirt, wears a hard hat that shows the Penn State 2009 Solar Decathlon logo. Rich Kelly, in a red shirt, is using a brad nailer to secure the floor while Dan holds the floor plank in place.
Large photo of Kyle Macht touching up the floors. Kyle is sitting in the top upper corner of the photo with the completed 'great room' floor below him.
Large photo of the Natural Fusion home moved from the parking lot near Beaver Stadium to a nice, calm area in Innovation Park, University Park, PA. The image shows the Natural Fusion home with the construction sign in the foreground with a bright blue sky.
Large photo of our waterbags getting ready to be installed underneath the flooring. These waterbags look like a white plastic bag that are able to be connected through black tubes to store water. The storing of water under the floor helps retain the heat for thermal mass.
Large photo of Jim Gawthrop is playing underneath the floor of the Natural Fusion home to install the water bags. The home is elevated off the ground with cribbing at strategic locations.
Large photo of our our poplar siding is shining in the sunlight. The sun beams are seen on the siding with the background of a lightly clouded blue sky.
Large photo of Val Boudreaux properly secured to the roof installing the clerestory windows.  She's smiling while wearing her red hard hat with her two thumbs up.
Large photo of our two 'great room' windows on the North Facade from the exterior. The sunset on the siding highlights the beautiful color in the siding with a deep golden brown. The two windows are open and are trimmed in black.
Two female students work on assembling the Life Well, which is located in the kitchen.  Wooden slats are hanging on the wall behind the sink, and long, grass-like plants are being mounted onto them.  Each student is wearing safety glasses and a hardhat.
Jeff Rayl, the Electrical Project Manager, is giving the camera two thumbs up.  He is standing in the bathroom next to the mirror, which is giving off his reflection and showing off his pony tail.  He is wearing a black shirt with white letters and safety glasses.
Joelle Buczynski, Materials Project Manager, is painting the west wall of the Living Room white with a paint roller.  In the background is the ductless mini split HVAC unit mounted on the wall above her, and there is a red ladder located behind her.  She is wearing a light blue t-shirt, and her dark hair is tied back.
A close-up image of our Life Well.  This image features plants with long, grass-like leaves which are planted in soil inside a metal planting box.
This is an image of Jeff Rayl, the electrical project manager, and Luke Witmer, the energy modeling project manager, investigating the newly installed hardware for the energy monitoring system.  The hardware is encased in an electrical box with their company name, "Noveda", written on the cover.  Jeff is wearing a white hardhat, black t-shirt and safety glasses.  Luke is wearing a yellow hardhat and white t-shirt.  The construction site is in the background, notably the planter boxes filled with vegetable plants.
This image shows the eastern corner of the Natural Fusion home.  Blurred in the foreground are stalks from the meadow garden.  The solar thermal panels and wood slat siding are mounted on the front, with the Solyndra solar panels mounted above them on the roof.  The sky in the background is a faded blue.
This image shows the northern wall of the home where the wood siding meets the Living Wall.  Wooden siding boards extend at varying lengths into the wall of plants.  Most of the plants have long, grass-like leaves, with some of them having fern-like leaves.
This image shows a close-up of the bio-intensive vegetable garden.  The image features a top-down image of the leafy green cabbage.
This image features Alyce DiLauro, head of Public Relations, and Joelle Buczynski, Materials Project Manager.  Both are smiling at the camera.  Alyce is wearing a white t-shirt, and Joelle has a cream colored collared shirt.
This image is of Kyle Macht, the Natural Fusion team leader, explaining bedroom features of the home to environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr. and his video camera crew.  Kyle is standing on and looking down at the slate flooring between the foot of the bed and the double doors to the outside.  Ed Begley, Jr. is listening to Kyle with his back to the camera.  On the far right is the video camera man facing the camera towards Kyle.  In the background is the closet with a door partially open, with a reflection in the doors of the scene in front of it.
This image shows a group of students and industry professionals listening to Ed Begley, Jr. speak in front of the Natural Fusion home.  Nine people, all smiling, stand in front of the open doors on the southern deck.  Four students, all in their Natural Fusion tour shirts, are in the shot, including Keith Holmes, Modular Project Manager, Brian Goodykoontz, Construction Project Manager, Joelle Buczynski, Materials Project Manager, and Jim Gawthrop, Mechanical and Plumbing Project Manager.  The shot also includes Dr. Tom Richard, head of the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment, and Dr. Jeffrey Brownson, faculty director for the Natural Fusion team.  Ed Begley stands in the foreground with his back partially to the camera in a suit jacket and blue collared shirt.
This image shows a group shot of Penn State Natural Fusion team members and Ed Begley, Jr. in front of the Natural Fusion home.  There are nineteen people in the photo, with twelve students each wearing their tan-colored tour shirts.  Ed Begley, Jr., the tallest of the bunch, is in the back and in the center, wearing his suit jacket and blue collared shirt.  Dr. Jeffrey Brownson, the faculty director, is on the right side in a black suede suit jacket and light purple collared shirt.  Dr. Tom Richard, the director of the Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment, is to the left in a gray suit jacket and blue collared shirt.  The south façade doors are open on the home in the background.
Brian Goodykoontz, Construction Project Manager, presents Ed Begley, Jr. a tan Natural Fusion tour shirt.  Ed Begley, Jr.  Ed holds the shirt in front of him smiling down on it, with Brian smiling towards him.  In the background is the Natural Fusion home with the south façade doors open and other team members standing inside.  Brian is wearing a tan tour shirt, identical to the one presented to Ed.  Ed is wearing his suit jacket and blue collared shirt.
This image shows environmentalist Ed Begley, Jr. while speaking at his scheduled event.  He is pointing to his forehead, and underneath his finger is a small, round bandaid, which was placed there after a minor altercation with a garage door.  He is wearing his glasses, and his blue eyes are wide open. He is wearing a suit jacket and blue collared shirt.