Passive Solar "Hilltop House"for Black Dike, Sierrita Mountains, outside Tucson Arizona, elevation 3,700'. A similar plan will be developed for retirement near Deming, New Mexico. |  Pics below are "thumbnails"
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This home is designed to be completely heated by the sun, and comfortably cooled via underground tunnels. I did the basic design several years ago, then constructed to a point where footings, cooling tower underground cooling tunnels were poured. |  Cooling Intake tower |
| Floor Plan. It is not a large home, just 1041 SqFt, 1 bedroom, 1 bath. Using an open floor plan with cathedral ceilings and good-sized rooms, it lends a feeling of spaciousness. |  Floor Plan |
| The exterior walls are thick soil cement with foam insulation embedded toward the exterior face. It will be poured in horizontal lifts of about 9" each. The resulting thermal mass will store heat from south-facing windows located both at the rear and at the bearing wall near the center of the home. |  |
| The rear wall faces south, with big windows & glass doors for solar input. The upper clerestory windows provide sunlight to the North wall, and also serve as outlet for convention cooling from the underground cooling system. |  Rear/South exposure |
| Entry/Front Elevation faces North. The garage to the right might get a window? Or also might be built as the guest bedroom? |  Front/North exposure |
| Elevation facing the morning sun to the East. The glass door on the covered east patio will provide nice early morning sun in the winter to help warm the home early in the day. The patio faces trees and black rock outcroppings to the east, a pretty settin' spot! |  Left/East exposure |
| The opposite West Elevation lent considerable consternation over putting windows that direction, as it really works against us here in the Southwest! Tree protection will have great priority. |  Right/West exposure |
| This construction section shows the basics of how it all goes together. | 
Construction Section |
Soil cement isn't much of a mystery. It's been used for decades in sloped bank stabilization in highways and streams. And "adobe" variations go back in history almost forever. The Black Dike site has a large arroyo with lots of sandy/gravelly material, hauled up for use as the aggregate in this home. There it is tossed into a small cement mixer and poured just like regular concrete. One thing to watch is getting too much clay in the mix. The construction is akin to rammed earth, except that when completed pouring, the wall surfaces will be finished inside and out, requiring neither exterior stucco nor interior plaster/drywall. A 5-foot wall thickness is not necessary in the my SolarSense system, because by embedding insulation inside the walls, much less wall thickness is necessary to accomplish the same solar performance. This is a huge saving in both square footage and labor. Two moderately skilled people (husband and wife) can build this entire house, while forming for rammed earth virtually demands a crew of construction professionals. Think about it! |
| The footings and cooling intake tower & tunnels have been in place for some years now. Our solar electric system, well water system and most of the septic system is completed. Since those days, the Black Dike property has been sold. The purchasers were provided full plans for completion, and have been continuing development ever since. | 
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