Building the Sun Cottage Part I: Site Selection

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Follow an architect as he leads us through the planning, pouring, and pounding involved
in . . . 

All too many of us have found that building an energy-efficient home seems to be a dream ... a fantasy that's kept just out of reach by escalating prices and high interest rates. And, as if the cost of building weren't enough of a hindrance, some of the funds that might otherwise be saved toward paying that price often end up being spent on energy to keep our "old" houses comfortable. Of course, MOTHER has long been exploring ways to break this vicious circle of waste ... and one inventor of solu tions, whose work we've shown you before, is architect Angus W. Macdonald. 

Those of you who missed our previous articles about Angus and his work (see issues 67 and 74) will be interested to learn that the innovative architect was educated at Yale University and holds a master's degree from the Yale School of Architecture. After spending eight years developing low-cost buildings in Jamaica, he returned to his native Virginia. . . where he now practices passive solar architecture in the town of Orange. 

Macdonald has developed a number of designs that apply low-cost building techniques to passive solar, earth-tempered homes ... and he's agreed to relate, in a series of articles that will span at least six issues of MOTHER, much of what he's learned about planning and building such structures. We'll cover the complete process of home construction ... from site selection (in this article) all the way through excavation, drainage, building walls, insulating, waterproofing, and interior finishing ... and every installment will be written to help the builder who's on a tight budget. 

By the end of the series, then, you should have the basic information necessary to put up your own energy-efficient home at a rock-bottom price. In fact, we'll illustrate the whole process with photos of the construction of a passive ive solar, earth-tempered home—described in the sidebar entitled "About the Sun Cottage Modular"—that qualifies for FHA or VA fi nancing ... and costs only $20 per square foot to build! 

Angus W. Macdonald, M.Arch.

When you're shopping for a piece of property on which to build a passive solar home, keep your wits about you and look both up and down: Be mindful of the sky and the earth... after all, the marriage of proper sunlight, terrain, and soil will be crucial to the ease of construction and to the performance of the finished residence.