Operation Desert Shed
Comments
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Why cant DWELL include more photos on their website?
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They don't really spell it out for you, but if you click on "slideshow," there's all the photos for the article from the magazine, and there's usually some extras also that weren't in the actual magazine.
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I like the simplicity of the structure. The concept reminds me of what you find in some of the old trailer parks in Palm Springs, where owners built elaborate roof canapies over their trailers to cut down on the direct sun, and created shade. (Check out the Sahara Mobile Home Park next time you're in Palm Springs! Paul
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Seen the house and there are a few going up in the area using the same idea. Seems to me however that the builders have forgotten that in Pioneertown we also have some pretty cold winters. With temperatures dropping into the 20s quite regularly. So if you are living in such a house you aren't taking advantage of passive solar heating during winter. I have to wonder if the cost of heating doesn't in-fact increase due to the permanent shade?
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Thank you MPete for the advice, I didn't notice the slideshow button, duh. I am also in the process of building my off the grid space and really appreciated the salvaged bath tub in the photos-very creative.
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I was thinking the same thing as Vance regarding the cold winters, but more along the lines of the slab. The article in the printed magazine has more details about the concrete foundation. It has a low thermal conductivity, which should reduce temperature variation. My house here in Atlanta is slab and it gets quite cold in the winter, so I'm curious as to exactly how cold that slab would be where the temperature drops into the 20's. Adding that into what Vance points out as losing out on the solar heating, how is this house maintaining warmth in the winter?
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Just for grins... does ANYONE know how much it might cost to built a house like this say in or around Green Valley, Arizona???
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Finally a nice looking shade structure home! Out in the SW Texas desert where I live - the landscape is dotted with the dreaded doublewide shaded with the ugliest steel structures...But I'm guessing that this Dwell feature was built for a about $350,000. Check out my desert shed at www.TheFieldLab.org My little house cost $3000 in materials and 3 months of my own labor. I am working on a larger structure with four shipping containers (2 for storage, one for an office and electronics workshop and one for a guest house. The 20 foot containers are arranged to provide a greenhouse courtyard that is 16' x 50'. My budget is $50,000 for this poject and I am doing all the building myself - to be completed by the end of '09.
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Carol. At least for the metal structure you can expect $18 per sq. ft. As for the dwelling that will vary depending on what is used towards high energy saving materials such as windows the cost could be $125 up.
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Carol, My wife and I have property not far from you in Rio Rico. We'd been thinking of straw bale, but I'm fascinated by the idea shown here for a small "starter" structure. I would make the protective metal canopy a bit more "artsy" however, if affordable. JT
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during winter, the sun may be at a low enough angle to shine in the windows and provide heat
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That steel roof not only provides shade and heat reflection, but would be a perfect place for a solar water heater as well as a photovoltaic array, making this an even "greener" home.
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There is a 4,000 sq ft. "off the grid" house in Austin Tx that is using the same concept. In this case the house is located mid way up a valley. The heat rises up out of the valley providing a high/low pressure to maintain constant air flow.
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Living in Melbourne, Australia, I have polished concrete floors in the main part of my home. (I'll update the website in the next few days.) Our weather varies from around 42C (108F) in summer, to 5C (40F) in Winter. Melbourne is where the horrific bush fires, or wild fires, were early in the year. Anyway, it stays wonderfully cool in summer, and is fairly good in winter, except when there is no sun. I designed the house so that the winter sun came under the eaves and could stream in through the vast windows, warming the concrete. In summer, the higher summer sun doesn't come under the eaves, and (mostly) misses the windows, keeping the house cool. The only time cooling has become a problem was during our bush fire heatwave, where we had 5 days straight of temperatures around 45C (113F). If I lived in an area where the heat became a problem, I think I have a solution, but have not really seen it used in a domestic sense........ add a "fly" to the house! The fly solution would need to be removable or retractable, suspended above the roof surface. This would work extremely well on a flat roofed house as it could be out of sight, and could also mean that the roof could be painted a heat generating colour, such as black to aid heating in winter (providing it doesn't snow!!). So in winter, the black roof aids in heating, and in summer the fly is stretched above the roof to assist in cooling. Depending on the material and method of application, I don't believe the cost may even be that great?? A near-12ft square sail on Amazon is only $125...
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To get to the website (www.moderncustomhome.com) simply click on my name....
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For those who want more pictures, go to: http://www.lloyd-russell.com/projects/index.php?pID=rimrock_ranch
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I have been turning a design like this over in my head for many years to build on 10 acres I bought in Central Nevada. Lake/Flato did a home in Kyle, Texas utilizing a recycled cement plant that got me started. http://www.lakeflato.com/projects/carraro/01.asp John, I was thinking of straw bale for this design. It could be load bearing because the roof doesn't have to carry much load. In fact, just insulation and a lightweight flat roof. Oriented as Matthew describes for solar gain by placing the house correctly under the structure will go a long way towards helping with heat in the winter and this could be augmented by radiant heating put in the slab under the living areas and heated with solar hot water. I imagine that the indoor/outdoor living spaces provided under the "super structure" would make a house of this design extremely livable in the desert. Very nice.
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