Building with earth - Gernot MINKE (1)

Casita Nuaanarpoq at Taos,
New Mexico, USA
The rooms are grouped around a central
staircase whose dark red coloration is
highly visible from outside. The house is
autonomous in energy terms, with photovoltaic
cells supplying the required electricity.
The passive harvesting of solar energy by
the glass front, as well as the massive loam
storage wall within and the highly effective
thermal insulation provided by the outer
walls, formed of balls of hay, result in adequate
climate control for this house, set in
a desert climate with extreme temperature
differences.
Architects: Edge Architects; Ken Anderson,
Pamela Freund, Taos, NM, USA
Completion: 2004
Floor area: 140 m 2
166
Built examples