Eco-Home Inside A Greenhouse

When it gets cold and dark during the winter months, people find creative ways to stay warm, but perhaps one of the most unusual approaches is building a greenhouse around your existing home to heat it up. That’s exactly what this family did near Stockholm, Sweden, by renovating an existing summer home and adding a greenhouse structure outfitted with 4-millimetre single-pane glass around it. The concept was first proposed by Swedish architect, Bengt Warne back in the 1970s. It’s called the Naturhus(“Naturehousing”).

Warne’s original intention for the Naturhus was to create a home that is a “sun collector” of sorts, where the cyclic flows of nature are utilized for producing energy, cleaning water, air and generating things like compost, in the Scandinavian climate. The greenhouse also allows them to lengthen their gardening season, growing Mediterranean plants like figs, while also helping them to cut down on heating.

It’s an innovative, out-of-the-box and under-the-greenhouse idea that not only keeps the house warm, but also protects it from weathering due to the elements. It would not work in extremely hot and sunny climates, but for the colder, northern climates it may be a viable alternative to cut heating bills and to extend your growing season.

Watch an in-depth video tour takes us inside to see how this self-sustaining home works.

Read more on treehugger.com.