This Earth Home is a faculty home on the campus of a private school. It is 1100 square feet with 3 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths and a great room. A Solar Greenhouse on the south wall serves several functions. Its primary functions are to provide solar heat to the home, growing space for flowers, plants and vegetables and to recycle grey water from the sinks and showers. It also serves as the entry to the home. A large central skylight daylights the great room. The walls are constructed with compressed earth bricks that were made on site. The 8” earth brick walls are insulated on the outside with 4” of soy based foam insulation and stuccoed.
The roof structure is made from logs cut from the site during clearing for a new school building. The logs were milled on site. The roof is a living roof and planted to reduce run off and to keep the home cool in the summer. Additional shading is provided by vines growing on the trellis.
Heating and cooling is provided by a geothermal heat pump and radiant floor heating. Solar heats the hot water and provides electricity. Toilet waste is processed into fertilizer in the basement in a composting toilet.
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