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Saturday, July 10, 2010

New House Name: "Self-Reliance"

After speaking with Team Appalachia about sharing the same house name, we decided to come up with a new one. We let “Solar Homestead” go, and began brainstorming. Several potential new names have been proposed and debated, but team member opinions vary when it comes to how we should verbally express our design. In June, the most popular student-generated name was Harvest Home. Although well received by most, it faced some potential copyright issues, and the team felt like it didn’t quite click. Our faculty advisor suggested that we consider using an active verb in our name, and assured us that it was OK to stray from convention. We kept thinking.

One day in early June, after a long hot day of work, several team members went to a nearby swimming hole to cool off and unwind. Immersed in nature, and relaxed by the water, the name discussion re-surfaced. As a result, the group came upon a name that encapsulates several key aspects of our target homeowner’s lifestyle – growing food, generating electricity, and living lightly on the planet. The suggestion, “Self-Reliance,” also represents the Vermont identity of being self-sufficient and self-sustaining in the face of challenging geographic and climatic conditions. The term grew on everyone, as we all realized that it broadly, yet precisely, embodies what our home stands for.

A subsequent question arose: how would we incorporate that term into the title? Would it be called The Self-Reliance House? Self-Reliance Home? Or simply just Self-Reliance? With our website in the works, we must commit to a particular way of branding our project and be consistent throughout our promotional materials. For now, we'll keep it simple: Self-Reliance. We especially admired Team New Zealand’s house name of “First Light,” which is fresh, original, and free from cliché words like “green” or “sustainable.” Hopefully, our newest name will be a hit!

1 comment:

  1. "Self-Reliance" is great and catchy enough - there is no need to include other nouns such as 'house' or 'home'. Remember, more is sometimes less and the beauty comes from implications. I am strongly for leaving it simply "Self-Reliance".
    ;e)

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