I designed my first Solar house thirty six years ago.
After that, I helped a builder friend with a few designs,
while spending as much time actually building as I could.
Then eventually, I had enough projects completed to land
jobs teaching building, design, and energy courses. Soon
I had an active design practice going, and had completed
nearly two hundred unique custom designed Solar homes,
that pushed the envelope of design in one way or many.
It has always been my philosophy to share what I have
learned with others, and I have usually found reward in
doing so. There is easily enough information to fill many
books, and I hope to keep adding more to this website,
as time goes on. However, I am continually learning, and
I doubt that my writing will ever catch up. If you like
what you see and read, this is just the very beginning,
and you will find more. So, keep returning to check.

...................Laren Corie

DESIGN ARTICLES

Passive Solar Building Design
Natural, climate reactive building design is a broad subject.
There are challenging design requirements for the cold/cloudy
climates of the upper Mid West and North East.  A passive
Solar design, that is right for Colorado or New Mexico, is not
usually right for the Great Lakes or New England regions.

 

Small House Design

A little house is not just a down-sized floor area.  It also
requires a rethinking of how most every aspect of a home
works. Tiny autonomous houses, may even collect their own
rain water, generate their own electricity, process their
own wastes, and heat themselves with sunshine, and trash.
There are also important issues involving code compliance.