A CANADIAN SUNSHINE SHOWCASE
(Page 2 of 4)
The house itself stands at the peak of the slope and is
bermed to the north. To further augment the effect of this
earth sheltering, the designer shaped his home's
cedar-shingled roof to direct winds away from the
dwelling's south-facing skylight area. (The structure was
laid out as a modified pentagon . . . both to encourage
airflow and to make efficient use of its southern
exposure.)
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COMBINING BEAUTY AND FUNCTION
Fluker's design is intentionally uncomplicated: He planned
a direct-gain, passive solar structure with 1,750 square
feet of living area, all told. Over half the main floor is
directly exposed to the sun . . . either through the 186
square feet of south-south-east-to south-southwest-oriented
glass, or through the 360 square feet of skylight collector
surface. The master bedroom on the upper level is bathed in
light both indirectly (from white-painted ceilings and
walls) and straightaway (through the roof section of the
skylight).
On the other hand, the triple-glazed window area on the
home's north, east, and west faces was kept to a total of
only 70 square feet, and is responsible for less than 9% of
the building's total heat loss.
In order to provide for energy absorption and
storage—while adhering to the concept that the
Structure should be a storage medium in itself—the
designer incorporated several systems into his creation.
To begin with, the slab was poured over an insulated (R-16)
bed, which includes an airhandling system. The surface of
this concrete foundation was fitted out with dark,
heatabsorbing slate in the solarium, hearth, and kitchen
areas . . . but—because the owner felt that a softer
material would provide a warmer, cozier
feeling—carpeting was installed in most of the
remaining living space.
Then, to take advantage of direct solar gain (and to
provide a structural as well as an aesthetic focus), a
concrete block column, veneered with slabs of charcoal-gray
slate, reaches from floor to ceiling at the center of the
house.
