The Shape of Things to Come:

Goal: Strive for efficient home design within practical limitations of easily
available construction materials and methods and minimize impact on the
ecology of the home site.

Principle 1: Volume / Surface Area considerations: If we build the most

volume with the least surface area we reduce the amount of materials
consumed in construction and we create an interior space that is more
easily maintained at a constant temperature and thus reduce the need for
heating and cooling augmentation. This is because heat is generally gained
and lost at the interface of the interior and exterior space. All other
variables held constant, less heat is transferred when the surface area is
minimized and the volume is maximized. The most efficient geometry is
thus the sphere.

Is spherical geometry practical for a home? Not really. Easily available

materials are generally flat and rectangular, meaning that attempts to build
spherical shapes with flat materials, for example geodesic domes, results in
more corners rather than less and also requires cutting rectangular
materials into other shapes producing many waste pieces. It also requires
more energy to size materials as opposed to being able to use off-the-shelf
sized construction materials. Corners are prime opportunities for heat
transfer by conduction and infiltration so spaces with the fewest corners will
have the best characteristics for energy conservation. While a true sphere
would have no corners, an approximation with flat materials results in many
corners.

One could use a plastic material such as gunnite (blown concrete) to create
a true sphere, but this is not practical on many home sites, nor is it
conventional or easy construction. Once you make a mistake with
concrete, well, have fun! The best easy geometric appoximation of the
sphere with the least corners becomes the cube. Straight vertical walls
enclose the most useful interior volumes and make excellent load bearing
forms for roofs. Flat floors work, spherical floors do not. While spherical
roofs shed water just fine, the water is dispersed rather than gathered by
the roof, complicating catch-water conservation strategies. For efficiency,
economy of easily available materials, and practicality, the rectangular
cube-derived enclosure beats the sphere.

Principle 2. Efficient use of needed resources;- catch-water, passive

ventilation: A flat roof on a rectangular enclosure presents a few problems
that are solved by sloping the roofline. Flat roofs often leak or develop
ponding problems, disperse rather than gather catch-water and are
generally higher maintenance than sloped rooflines. A sloped roof can also
channel air in a convection path that improves passive ventilation.

Incorporating principles 1&2, the "shed" structure with generally equal

height, width and length with a gently sloped roof becomes the shape best
accomplishing our goals. It requires no trusses as do crested pitched
roofs, nor does it create two or more water shedding directions. All the
water flows the same way and can be easily caught. Similarly all the
interior convecting hot air can be released by a single vent surface and the
interior air flow is increased by simplifying and unifying the direction of air
flow.

Principle 3. Efficient collection of solar energy;- solar gain: The more

south facing surface area, the greater the potential for passive solar gain.
Departure from a square footprint can be advantageous depending on solar
gain needs. If you need more solar gain, increase the east west dimension
of the home, if you need less increase the north south dimension of the
home. In a cooler geography that needs more solar gain, it is best to have
a site that is rectangular and longer in the east / west dimension. If less
solar gain is needed, the best site will be longer in the north south
dimension. This assumes other variables are held constant.

Principle 4. Impact on existing flora;- tree conservation: Trees are the

lungs of the earth. If trees aren't healthy, soon nothing else will be that
breathes. In that trees have as much subterranean mass in the roots as
aerial mass in trunks and branches, conservation of trees not only involves
reducing branch cutting, but also root cutting. When there are large trees
dominating the entire home site, a pier foundation has much less impact
than an excavated poured concrete foundation. Construction on such a
site should be done upon piers set into carefully selected perforations of
the ground to minimize root disturbance. Minimizing excavation in general
is a good idea when tree preservation is a goal. Tree preservation should
always be a goal. Trees improve air quality, aid in summer cooling through
transpiration, moderate winter wind, provide privacy in high population
density areas and provide wildlife habitat.

To be continued.....

to see practical implementation of these principles in a real physical

structure see my photo album, "The New Home" copy this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?
aid=21816&id=1432094474&l=12105e9d90