THE $15,000 SOLAR ARCADE

Image Gallery The one-bedroom Solar Arcade has 800 square feet of living space and can be built-start to finishfor under $15,000. STAFF PHOTOS

An earth-sheltered house for about the price of a mobile home? It's possible with . . .THE $15,000 SOLAR ARCADE STAFF PHOTOS

In the past year or so, while most archi tects have been struggling to develop plans for homes that could be erected for less than half again their estimated cost, Angus Wyman Macdonald has managed to pare building expense to the bone. The latest brainchild of this Virginia architect (whose no-frills approach to earth-sheltered construction was introduced to MOTHER's readers in issue 67, page 174) is the "Solar Arcade" . . . an 800square-foot, passive solar, earth-bermed residence that can be completed at a cost comparable to the purchase price of a trailer or a modular house.

In fact, Angus has borrowed the best of the techniques usually applied to conventional prefabricated buildings and incorporated them in the Arcade's construction. For example, the designer-with the assistance of Virginia engineer George Allman-has developed a precut, heavy timber roof-framing kit . . . which can be secured to the home's masonry shell by a drill-wielding do-it-yourselfer.

Amazingly enough, the total cost of the Solar Arcade-including the $2,500 framing kit, other materials, and major labor -is $14,757 . . . or about $18 per square foot for the one-bedroom home!

A PREFAB EARTH SHELTER

Two of MOTHER's staffers recently visIted the prototype Solar Arcade-near Orange, Virginia-and found it a light and airy dwelling snuggled into a south-facing hillside. Angus is concerned with making his structures not only functional, but affordable and easy to build as well . . . following a concept he refers to as "anxietyfree, energy-efficient housing". His investigation into, and subsequent use of, modular techniques has grown out of his work experience over the past few years.

"I'm constantly amazed at the low cost of well-finished modular housing, and also at the instant availability of housetrailer accommodation," Macdonald says. He came to that appreciation most strongly during his involvement with the development of a lowcost housing project in Jamaica, where Angus and a six- to eightman crew were able to erect a panelized, three-bedroom dwelling-complete with services-within seven days . . . fore total cost of $6,000.

This astounding accomplishment remained in the architect's mind as he returned to his work in the States. Angus began trying (successfully!) to meet his clients' demands for comfortable, spacious living quarters without the burden of huge mortgage payments (he estimates that eight of the houses he's designed during the past year have been completed for less than $40,000). As his work progressed, Macdonald came to realize that he could combine the energy-efficient attributes of earth-sheltered housing with the labor- and cost-efficient benefits of prefabricated construction ... and the earth-sheltered, passive solar module was born.