Dennis Holloway, An Architect in Northern New Mexico

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Passive Solar Residence for Matt and Ellen Champion,
Nederland, Colorado, 1978

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While the southern facade is conspicously solar, large wrap-around wooden decks soften its appearance , and the interplay of roof planes adds some cheer to the expanse of glass.

Photograph: John Youngblut, Denver, Colorado

A House High in the Rockies

The solar solution provides year-round comfort
in a spectacular setting

By Steve Bliss*

*Originally published in Solar Age Magazine , March, 1983

From a perch high above Colorado's precipitous Boulder Canyon, the Champion home looks south to the grandeur of the continental divide and the glacial slopes of James Peak. Teetering just east of the demarcation line of the nation's dominant weather systems, the home finds itself shadowed from precipitation, but frequently buffeted by the stormy gusts of the prevailing westerly winds. Abundant sun, arid air, and cold winter tempratures join the dramatic southerly exposure in inviting a passive solar solution to the site in Nederland, 8200 feet above sea level.

The building program develped jointly by the owners and (Taos, New Mexico) architect Dennis Holloway called for a master bedroom and expansive great room on one level, with a weaving room, workshop, and guest bedroom (for thegrand children) on a separate level. The owners wanted a solarium where table crops could be grown year-round. And they wanted a house to the greatest extent possible beated and cooled by the sun.

Inspired on a timely trip to Vienna by the Austrian use of the Innenhof--or inner courtyard--the architect chose to bring the greenhouse and ventilation tower indoors and wrap the building around these. The main body of the house forms a simple north-pointing vee in plan. The faceted south face mirrors the arc of the winter sun.

Major glass areas for viewing and passive solar gain are positioned to the southeast, south, and southwest of both levels of the house. The Champions are greeted by the morning sun in the great room and retire after the afternoon sun has warmed the master bedroom. Built into a steep hillside, the cold north elevation is naturally bermed to the top of the first level adn is further buffered by the judiciously placed entrance and service zones.

Passive Solar Design of Champion Residence

The Champion residence is a high-mass structure with 800 square feet of double-glazed solar aperature. Primary direct gain is provided by 160 square feet of vertical and 200 square feet of 45 degree insulating glass supplemented by 200 square feet of casement windows on the southeatern and southwestern elevations. An additional 200 sqare feet of insulating glass is held three and one half inches off of two Trombe walls, which flank the sunspace.

To open the main level to the dramatic southerly views, Holloway chose to glaze a larger portion of the greenhouse roof than computer simulations (by the Solar Energy Research Institute, Golden, Colorado) had suggested. Roof sections on either siede of the sloped glazing are dropped down to avoid shading the greenhouse. On the underside of these toof sections, seamed -copper panels reflect woodstove heat downward to warm the ceramic tile floor and the house's inhabitants.

Heat storage is provided by two L-shaped, 8-inch-thick concrete walls on either side of the solarium. Clad on the interior with 4-inch fieldstone veneer, these combination mass and Trombe walls provide striking alcoves for the home's two woodstoves. The inner legs of the mass walls are charged by both the sunspace and southeast/southwest glazings. The outer south- facing legs are painted black and glazed with insulated low-iron glass to form unvented Trombe walls. The mass walls work in conjunction with the ceramic-tiled concrete slabs covering both floor levels to dampen temperature swings in the house.

During the heating season, the solar gain in the solarium in shared with the surrounding living spaces by opening windows and sliding doors in the shared wall. Holloway's design aims to circulate the warmed air throughout the house in a series of convective loops, driven by the airflow in the glazed core. While no monitoring of the airflow has been done, the Champions report a uniformwarmth in their home, free of the drafts and cold spots to which they were accustomed in their previous conventionally heated home. Convection is promoted by open floor plans, high ceilings, and a wide central stairway. When the solarium is cooling on winter nights, it is isolated by closing the doors and windows (which surround it).

In the summer months, the two-and-a-half sroy tower draws heated air off the sloped greenhouse glazing and expels it through high vent windows. Dry Colorado air, drawn through windows at the greenhouse base and around the building's exterior, thermosiphons out the vented "chimney". The Champions regulate the folw of cooling northern air by adjusting operable north windows in the kitchen and bathroom.

Measured Passive Solar Performance of the Champion Residence

After spending two-and-a-half heating seasons in the Nederland home, the owners enthusiastically report year-round comfort and a 12-month growing season for vegatables and sun-loving flowers. Data they collected over a typical December week (mean temperature 20 degrees F) demonstrate temperatures in the great room hovering in the mid-60 degree F range. With ample radiant heat available to the skin from the thermal mass, they find this temperature range optimal.

Two woodstoves, supplying the only auxillary heat, are used in the daytime only following two or three days of no direct sun--a relatively rare occurrence here. On particularly cold and windy nights or following a cloudy day, a few hours of evening wood-burning keep the owners comfortable. The Champions burned one cord of pine over the relatively mild heating season of 1981. The temperature of the greenhouse fell as low as 47 degrees F only once, when competing with an outdoor temperature of minus (-) 26 degrees F. Excess moisture from the greenhouse is well appreciated for its humidifying effect on the arid mountain air.

In summer, the high-valley microclimate bathes the house in light southerly breezes and holds ambient temperatures in the mid-80 degreeF range. While no summer monitoring has been done, the owners have found their home quite comfortable with no auxillary cooling.

Participants:

Architect: Dennis R. Holloway
Builder: Erdkamp Construction, Boulder, Colorado

Building Data:

Completion date: Spring 1981
Square footage: 3060
Building Cost: $55 per square foot
Heating degree days: 8900
Design heating load: 4.69 Btu/(degreeF-day foot squared)
Auxillary heat contribution: one cord of pine for winter of 1981
Systems: direct gain, mass walls and floors, unvented Trombe wall Novan DHW system, two woodstoves
Glazing: double insulating glass on all windows, low-iron on southern elevations and Trombe wall

Construction Details:

Foundation: 8-inch concrete with 4-inch rigid foam to 4 feet below grade
Walls: 2x6 studs with 1/2- inch plywood sheathing, 3/4-inch lapped cedar interior/exterior, mirrorized vapor barrier, R-19 batts, one-inch rigid foam sheathing
Floor: main floor--quarry tile over 3-inch concrete slab over 2x12's. Lower floor--quarry tile over 4-inch concrete slab
Ceiling: 1/2 inch cedar boards, 2x10 joists, R-30 batts

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