Naturhus

Interesting house within a greenhouse.

http://www.psfk.com/2008/10/house-within-a-greenhouse-your-private-bio-dome.html

The link goes to a 404 page not found.  I think you may have a typo or something.

Can you check it?

Let's try this link

www.treehugger.com/files/2008/10/naturhus-is-a-house-wrapped-in-a-greenhouse.php

That seems to work

One word, Hail.

mekennedy1313 wrote:
One word, Hail.

Does Sweden get a lot of hail?

mos6507 wrote:
Does Sweden get a lot of hail?

The world has a lot of weird weather patterns these days, just look at the winter Europe has had this year.  It would only take 1 storm and that as they say would be that.  Great idea until then.

Rather than hail, snow load would be my concern in my area.  Glass greenhouse glazing is extremely resilient to hail. In the summer I wonder how hot it would get. They only mention two houses using the idea in Sweden.
But in December it would  be so nice to sit on a large deck and be warm. My current house attached greenhouse is great but to have the whole house under one, though not practical, is a novel concept.

I'm thinking this is a great idea, kind of an envelope house.  Surely there are issues to be addressed (the fragility of glass, moisture build-up within the greenhouse, etc) but the payoffs are big ... extended growing season, multi-use intermediate area between house and the cold outdoors, water reuse and food production in off-seasons, and significantly easing the heating needs in the house by establishing a buffer area.  I like the way they've incorporated ideas from numerous sources to apply in the colder Swedish climate.

Cool. I hope it works out long-term, seems to be doing all right in that climate.

I've lived in climates that get a lot of hail. Florida, for one. Pretty much everyone there still has windows and even skylights.

That's not to say I think the glass house is necessarily a good idea; it's a lot of embodied energy to be able to grow bananas in Sweden. But it's not the hail that has me worried. Any kind of glass that you could use that much of in a structural way would have to stand up to more than a hailstorm. In a world of declining energy reserves, where we'll be hard pressed to get food on the table and medicine for children, to what lengths should we be going in order to preserve the luxuries of globalized agroindustry such as tropical fruit in climates to which they are unsuited?

Enclosing the entire house in a greenhouse seems, well, excessive to me.
That being said, I think that an attached greenhouse/sunroom combined with really good insulation should be part of any house in a temperate climate.
Oh, and when you're designing it, keep this photo from my home town just a couple of weeks ago.
http://ja-jp.facebook.com/pages/That-Hail-Storm-Was-Crazy-Melbourne-060310/369073511873?v=photos

This reminds me a little of a recent comment in another thread, that's sort of the opposite:

Kathleen Sanderson wrote:Somewhere I came across some video taken by a woman who lives in that area and has been building small structures on her land, IIRC made of cob.  She had about three big fiberglass or plastic water tanks, painted white, which collected water from a large metal roof.  Some of her smaller structures had been built under the roof, which is what I think I would do, were I to move there.  You'd have several advantages from building the roof first -- water collection could begin immediately; you'd have shade for the work and protection from precipitation; and you wouldn't need any very elaborate roof system on the structures built underneath the big metal roof.  It would also leave you with lots of shaded outdoor living areas, which could be very useful.