Caitlin Goodwin

"I will be attending Illinois Institute of Technology in the Fall.  My focus will be on maximizing passive solar heat gain in small buildings.  Its more of a challenge to use solar heat gain in cold dark climates, like where I live. Right now I'm studying current design methods for passive strategies, and locating problem areas for further research.

I'm doing an internship in Munich, Germany at the moment, at a firm called Hild und K.  It is one of the most reputable architecture firms in Munich, with their work visible in many prominent parts of the city.  There are about 15 people in the office.  They treat me wonderfully, and have a lot of faith in my abilities.

I live a healthy, responsible life here, using my bike or public transportation, eating food grown locally or from just over the mountains in  Italy.  Very few people drive here, and when they do, the cars are tiny.

Bikes and pedestrians take precedent.  After taking trains through the German countryside, I noticed every other house had solar panels on the roof, and the horizon was specked with industrial sized wind turbines. My firm uses day lighting, operable windows in place of air conditioners in even the largest of their buildings, and enjoys flexible designs for long-term use.

My education at Ecosa certainly allowed me to get a better sense of what exactly I wanted to pursue. It is easy to say you want to be an eco-designer, but with the sheer number of issues out there, it is much harder to stop yourself from wanting to fix every problem and just go for one or two. I will continue to spread the word."