This is the The Farm School. Construction began 1978 on this 6,000 square foot 10 room school made of recycled concrete block and brick. Its saw-toothed roof provides passive solar gains. Note roof angle blocks off the higher angled summer sun. Photo Courtesy of Caroling at wholeo.net Successful passive solar projects on The Farm helped them gain attention from nearby home owners. By the late 70’s The Farm broke ground on creating their first ever commercial project for a neighbor. It featured a double envelope design; a structure that had just began to be developed and was not well documented in terms of its performance. A double envelope design basically means a house within a house. The façade of the building is south facing with large clerestory window panels for solar uptake. The exterior shell of the building is load bearing. Between the exterior shell and the interior skin is airspace. The exterior wall is heavily insulated while the interior wall that creates the living space requires very little insulation. There is an opening at the roofs peak that allows air to enter the envelope. The design creates passive air circulation. Since the warmed air from the windows is less dense than the cooler air it rises to the peak of the roof and enters the envelope. The warmed air, when introduced to the cooler air towards the north wall, is cooled as it is pulled down the north wall and into the basement or crawl space under the living area. The earth and masonry of the basement or crawl space area continues to absorb any remaining heat, and then the air is pulled back up into the sun space.   In the evening, if the circulating air is cooler than the temperature of the earth and rock that has been heated throughout the day, the earth and rock with release its heat upwards into the living area.

This is the The Farm School. Construction began 1978 on this 6,000 square foot 10 room school made of recycled concrete block and brick. Its saw-toothed roof provides passive solar gains. Note roof angle blocks off the higher angled summer sun. Photo Courtesy of Caroling at wholeo.net

Successful passive solar projects on The Farm helped them gain attention from nearby home owners. By the late 70’s The Farm broke ground on creating their first ever commercial project for a neighbor. It featured a double envelope design; a structure that had just began to be developed and was not well documented in terms of its performance.

A double envelope design basically means a house within a house. The façade of the building is south facing with large clerestory window panels for solar uptake. The exterior shell of the building is load bearing. Between the exterior shell and the interior skin is airspace. The exterior wall is heavily insulated while the interior wall that creates the living space requires very little insulation. There is an opening at the roofs peak that allows air to enter the envelope.

The design creates passive air circulation. Since the warmed air from the windows is less dense than the cooler air it rises to the peak of the roof and enters the envelope. The warmed air, when introduced to the cooler air towards the north wall, is cooled as it is pulled down the north wall and into the basement or crawl space under the living area. The earth and masonry of the basement or crawl space area continues to absorb any remaining heat, and then the air is pulled back up into the sun space.  

In the evening, if the circulating air is cooler than the temperature of the earth and rock that has been heated throughout the day, the earth and rock with release its heat upwards into the living area.

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Apr 4 2009

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