I walked through the house yesterday. They did some interesting things, and not surprisingly the house had a definite "Euro" feel to it. My girlfriend thought it cold, plus the bed was buried in the floor, which to us seemed impractical.

The University of Maryland house won 2nd, and we found that to be much more comfortable feeling. Like you could just move in and feel at home.

For the purposes of the competition, the homes are limited to 800 square feet. I suppose that was to make it easier to transport the things to DC. Some people could live in that amount of space, others would feel the need for more. I guess it depends on how much stuff you have.

My sense is that the crowds were greater than they were 2 years ago. The waiting line for the German home was at least 30 minutes, similar wait for the Maryland house. There were some of the houses for which there were shorter lines, none had no lines.

Bear in mind that your "stuff" expands to fill the available space.

Hi ericy, thanks for your report (I am too far away, even from Darmstadt to be able to see the house myself).

To be honest: I liked the Maryland house better from the outside (from the pictures on the web site, of course). The winner from Darmstadt seemed a little like a rabbit cage to me, so I wondered why they were ranked highest from the view of architecture.