Explore - Deck

Solar panels have a reputation as being unsightly, but this U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon show home sheds the stereotype that photovoltaic arrays are eyesores.

Though tricked out with high-tech touches, this house’s greenest feature is decidedly low tech: the family’s intention to make it their lifelong home.

Stephen Shoup is the kind of person to see potential in things that others might miss. In 2005, looking for a property that would house himself and his design/build firm, building Lab inc., he...