SEE PASSIVELY HEATED UNDERGROUND HOUSES CAN BE BEAUTIFUL TOO!

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Claustrophobiacs should be further reassured to learn that the interior color scheme (it reflects light) of the Valle house contributes a great deal to the open, roomy, bright feel of the structure. This feeling is enhanced even more by the building's ceilings . . . which are nine—instead of the usual eight—feet high.

To put it another way, everything about this SEE, Inc. dwelling is first class. From its oversized rooms, to the materials used throughout, to the careful thought that went into every facet of its siting and design, to the use of the natural light and heat which enters the structure, to the very expensive neighborhood in which the building is located . . . nothing has been stinted. And the price tag on the house—$122,000—certainly reflects the fact.

If you find that figure a little rich for your blood, though, don't panic. Thanks to this plush "showplace" (remember the senior class back in high school), interest in passively solar heated underground dwellings is starting to boom up Columbus, Ohio way. SEE, Inc. has already been commissioned to construct five more houses of the same general design . . . and some of them will cost only half as much as the original (the rest of the "school" is rushing to get in on the act).

And there's even better news yet: Buck Valle tells MOTHER that SEE, Inc. is just as anxious to promote passively sun-tempered underground dwellings— whether or not SEE, Inc. builds them —as we hope you are to give such a structure a try. For this reason, the firm stands ready to license other qualified contractors to fabricate SEE, Inc. designs.

And the best news of all: Solar-Earth Energy, Inc. is also putting together an information packet (available for $5.00) which contains further details about the house you see here and other SEE, Inc. designs. In addition to that, the company is assembling a $500 construction manual so detailed . . . that "almost anyone" should be able to use it to build his or her own SEE, Inc. design for tens of thousands of dollars less than a contractor-fabricated version of the same house. Send your $5.00 to Solar-Earth Energy, Inc., Dept. TMEN, 1695 Kenny Rd., Columbus, Ohio 43212. The information packet you'll receive in return will tell you all about this exciting program.

A PRIMER ON PASSIVELY SOLAR HEATED UNDERGROUND HOUSES

Regular MOTHER readers know that this magazine has been championing warm, safe, snug, stormproof, easy to (passively solar) heat and cool underground houses for some time. If this is your first exposure to the idea, however, here's how to learn more about the subject:

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