Masonry Magazine July 1980 Page. 4
The thermal storage wall-or Trombe wall-is all masonry, a composite of 4-in. brick and 8-in. concrete block, all solid units. The wall extends 48 ft. across both the first and second floors of this home.
Masonry under glass
Passive solar home designs
create new market for masonry
Passive solar. Two words to remember, because they herald an important new market for masonry in the residential field. Until recently, most efforts in this area have involved active systems-rooftop collectors, piping systems, etc. Plenty of moving parts. Built-in operational and maintenance problems. And expensive.
Professor Timothy Johnson, solar expert at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, calls these systems "white elephants," destined in 10 years "for a museum, to show how we used to do it." One example: the $28,000 solar water system installed last year on the roof of the White House. Symbolic, maybe, but one Presidential advisor views it another way. "It's an economic dog," he said.
Passive solar, on the other hand, uses only conventional building materials. No moving parts are needed to generate and circulate heat. The best way to explain the working of passive systems and to assess their potential impact on our industry is to look at an actual home. In fact, two homes-one the first model in Michigan offered for sale by a production home builder, the other a house designed by a state architect for his own use.
(Our special thanks to the Masonry Institute of Michigan for providing the photos and text for this article which originally appeared in the February. 1980 issue of "The Story Pole," official publication of the Masonry Institute of Michigan.-Ed.)
Holtzman & Silverman offers solar
home in Ypsilanti area
The "for sale" home is a two-story colonial, built by Holtzman & Silverman of Southfield. It's priced at $122,500, and located in the Ford Lake Heights subdivision of Ypsilanti Township in Michigan.
Early last year. Holtzman & Silverman commissioned noted Vermont architect Turner Brooks to design a series of "Special Homes for the 80s." Brooks suggested that the first design be for a passive solar house, pointing out that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Energy Department were offering $2,000 grants for the design of such homes and $10.000 grants to help defray the costs of building selected designs.
Holtzman & Silverman gave Brooks the go-ahead, submitted his designs to the government agencies, and received both grants the only ones awarded in Michigan. Brooks' design (see photo of model) called for a large glass wall setting four to eight feet out from the south-facing front wall of the home.
The front wall is an all-masonry thermal storage or Trombe wall (named for Switzerland's Felix Trombe).