Sustainable Housing at California, also known as SHAC, is a group of undergraduate and graduate students at UC Berkeley with a shared passion for sustainability in the built environment. Through hands-on and interdisciplinary projects, SHAC offers an educational experience for students, brings about positive impacts to our community, and develops innovative technologies and methodologies for the world beyond.
SHAC runs a number of projects, one of which is the Solar Decathlon. SHAC’s Solar Decathlon project is being designed and built in partnership with Youth Spirit Artworks (YSA), a local nonprofit that created the world’s first tiny house village for formerly unhoused youth of ages 18-25 located in Oakland, California. In collaboration with YSA, our team is designing and building a second Tiny House Village, including our entry for the Solar Decathlon 2023 competition– an artist-maker community centre, filled with equipment and resources that help develop the youth’s practical skills as well as house a live-in professional who will conduct workshops for the youth.
SHAC also offers a student-run course under the City and Regional Planning Department at UC Berkeley titled Living Futures: Regenerative Environmental Design. This solutions-based course uses the seven petals of the Living Building Challenge and the Living Community Challenge as a guide to envisioning a future that is socially just, culturally rich, and ecologically restorative.
Please visit our website at shac.berkeley.edu and consider donating to support our organization!
