For all the reasons to make and maintain a greenhouse, the members of this family had the most creative one: to protect them from cold weather! It may seem like an unaesthetic choice, because the actual home is engulfed in the greenhouse. But the results are quite convincing: it can be -2°C outside and up to 20°C upstairs. An old summer house on the Stockholm archipelago was used for the creative approach. Using architect’s Bengt Warne concept of Naturhus, the owners covered their new home in 4 millimeter glass. What followed was a wrap-around garden and an interesting type of produce from Sweden’s point of view – tomatoes, cucumbers, figs. Explore the entire thing via the photos and videos provided here.
* In the video, Granmar mentions architect Bengt Warne’s influence in the 1990s since this is the date he reached a larger audience with his book release.
The average temperature in Stockholm in January is -3°C (27°F). For Marie Granmar and Charles Sacilotto it can be much warmer thanks to the greenhouse that blankets their home. “For example at the end of January it can be -2°C outside and it can be 15 to 20°C upstairs,” explains Sacilotto.
What about if it hails? Will the glass shatter?
Not any more likely than the windows in any other house shattering.
……….except the room glass.
Not with 4mm thick glass
typical windshield glass for a car is 1-2mm thick
Windshield glass has NEVER been as thin as 1-2 mm thick. 1 mm = the thickness of a dime. Even side glass has never been that thin. Laminated windshields are typically in the 4-5 mm range.
True, but car glass is “safety glass” made of 3 layers with the center layer being of clear plastic. Big difference.
love the idea warmer all winter
I wonder how much it cost to do this vs. how much they save on their heating bills, How many winters of saved heating are needed to pay for it.
Quality of life = Priceless
And how much they save on produce with the wrap around garden. Love the idea.
What happens in the summer? It would be sweltering
In the summer, you open or remove some of the windows.
Great idea. I plan to build my house wrapped in a geodesic quonset and use north side of hose house as a thermal heat mass store using rocks using the excess hot air in summer To heat said rocks.
They changed the exterior of the house after wrapping it in a greenhouse.. not because of the mold, but because they wanted it to look nicer. Forgive me for my skepticism, but I believe that when something sounds too good to be true.. it usually is. If they were to actually share the positives AND the negatives.. it would be much more believable… much like the “earthships” made with recyclable materials that died out because the tires and trash they build the homes with was leaching toxic chemicals into the living environment that the people spent all their time in at home. I love to dream, like everyone else, but I like to be practical… I find it would be more practical to have an attached greenhouse that you can use to heat open hallways of the house instead of actually covering your house entirely with a greenhouse. I live in Northern Florida, we have to design our homes in such a way that the humidity will not create a mold problem otherwise your family will stay constantly sick, and eventually you’re house will become unlivable … by eventually i mean just a few years, if that long. By simply having a high ceiling without a fan to circulate the air here or having your under house sealed too tightly (if it’s not a monolithic slab, but built above ground wood frame or a mobile home) as to not allow air flow. This video was made years ago, I have not seen updates to it, they don’t mention how much work it is to clean the glass, or any humidity issues. I can take a turd and shine it up to look good for a one time video, but it’s still going to revert back to being a turd in a short amount of time and not be worthy of a second video. I’m not trying to hurt anyone’s feelings or crush your dreams, i’m just trying to be realistic about this idea so people will think before they act.
This should have just built a greenhouse attached to the side of the house for their produce. Building a green over the house is wasteful and aesthetically retarded. Frankly i’m surprised they are not American.
You may be right about the aesthetics, but I don’t see how cutting down on your use of electricity or gas can be called wasteful.
It is for thermal…not just a garden. Greenhouse effect
That’s interresting and all but think of all the window cleaner you have to buy lol.
smudge prints and dirt. The rain can only wash so much.
Very cool idea though.
The dirtier it gets, the more effective it would be for the greenhouse effect. so it would only be clean for the presentation.
Not a good idea…. Unless you love to live with mold. The humidity inside would be very high.
There’s very little humidity when the temps are that low.
Robin, as long as there was proper circulation of air there would be little problem with mold. I live in a very humid climate and we have a high propensity for mold, my house has vents built in every room that circulates the air. the one bathroom with out a vent is the only one that has an issue with mold.
You are retarded…..must be American. It’s a brilliant idea.
that’s a very narrow minded comment. It sounds like something Hitler would say.
and you are judgmental ..you must not be an American to say such a stupid thing
It would make them have a tropical climate in the summers. They live really far north so summers don’t get really hot there, their summer average is 67°
We built a structure around our 16 x 32 ft swimming pool with translucent corrugated roof panels. Our average summer temperature is 66° F. It would routinely get to 120° F in our pool area. They’ll need to remove some of the glass from their greenhouse in the summer or they’ll cook.
They live in Stockholm, Sweden if you had read the article you’d know that though. Their hottest month is July and it only gets up to the mid 60’s and it’s in the 20’s for the winter. This is a genius idea for their location.
I had to look twice. There has been a very similar home in Omaha for decades. It’s managed to withstand blizzards, tornado activity, hot humid summers and Saturdays earthquake. They eventually took down some of the houses outside walls and put up some solar panels. It’s been there so long, I don’t even look at it when I drive by anymore.
I’m swedish and the only months with desent weather and temperature is june, july and august. We have to heat our homes from late september until may, sometimes it snows in april. The heating bills can be quite high during a year so normally go break even after 10-15 years.
Love the idea. If it’s raining you still can enjoy being outside. Of course it’s not for everyone but it’s wonderful someone thought to try it.
I think building underground, especially in an environment as theirs, is far cheaper, requires far less maintenance, and with new designs and technologies, can provide a sustaining lifestyle with regarding heat, cooling, water recycling…even growing food in the winters. The homes can also be insured in those places that finance their construction.
Someone Did
One thing’s for sure, they better not throw any stones from this house.
Everyone hates Americans until we save your snob butts in wars.
It is an interesting concept. I do not see however why there was a need to insult Americans
I think it’s a great idea, expensive, but still a great idea. The only issue I see is cleaning all the panels, and the amount of dead birds that would pile up around the house.
If it was America they’d be force to take it down.. sadly.
This seems extreme since she’s saying it gets to -2. I live in Canada which gets -20 on a regular basis. Spending that much money on a glass exterior when you don’t live in extreme conditions seems counterproductive.