The Solar Vacation House from 1973
In 1973 Michael Jantzen designed and built the Solar Vacation House at his parents summer resort in Southern Illinois. The hillside structure was designed as a small, two-story vacation retreat for two people. It was passively solar heated in the winter and utilized the latest energy efficient lights, appliances, and water conservation devices.
The house was primarily made from off the shelf, low cost, steel agricultural building components. This included corrugated painted steel siding used on the exterior of the lower level, and one half of a painted steel dome silo roof used to form the top level. The south facing portion of the house was constructed from painted plywood, corrugated fiberglass, and stained wood boards that formed a large deck that extended out from the south side of the structure. Large south facing plastic bubble were used as windows, and there was a sliding glass door at the center of the south wall.
The south facing windows were used to passively heat the house during the winter, along with two large south facing translucent roof sections glazed with corrugated fiberglass. These roof sections were covered at night and during the summer with two insulated panels that were hinged on one side and connected to cables. The cables were connected to two boat winches mounted inside on the top level. By simply turning the cranks by hand on the winches, occupants could raise and/or lower the insulated panels to control the amount of sunlight and heat entering the house. The underneath surface of the insulated panels were covered with a reflective Mylar material that allowed the sunlight and heat to be directed onto two large water filled containers that were built into two seats, located inside of the house below the glazed roof sections. The water in the containers held the solar heat until it was needed at night to heat the house. All of the south facing windows were also fitted with insulated panels that could be closed at night to hold the heat in during the winter, and/or during the hot part of the day during the summer. In addition, natural ventilation was used to cool the house in the summer.
The Solar Vacation House was the first in a series of solar powered houses that Michael designed and built that explored ways in which alternative energy gathering and storage systems can be incorporated into the built environment, in new and aesthetically pleasing ways.
Status: Built
Location: Southern Illinois
