This is the first time that Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) and University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMASS Lowell) will compete in the Solar Decathlon. Both schools are publicly-funded state institutions of higher education. Founded in 1873, MassArt was the first art school in the United States to grant a degree, and it remains the nation’s only public college of art and design. UMass Lowell is a comprehensive university with a national reputation in science, engineering, and technology. It offers the only solar energy engineering program in the Northeast United States. Students from MassArt and UMASS Lowell have been working since the fall of 2009 to develop the 4D Home. The team’s diversity extends to a range of academic levels; bachelor, master, and doctoral candidates are all represented. The members of Team Massachusetts have a shared concern about the negative consequences of non-renewable energy sources for the built environment. We believe that the issue must be addressed holistically. Our team values: innovation through simplicity rather than complexity, longevity of materials and systems, working in an integrated collaborative design process, using singular technologies for multiple functions, and generating context driven design solutions.