Highlights of our whimsical passive solar cob/strawbale home. This house will be built in Sunnybrae at Canoe-point in the Shuswap region. On 10 acres overlooking Lake Shuswap This Southern facing property has an unrestricted view of the Sun from sunrise till sunset which will be perfect for the passive solar aspect of the house.

The house will have 3 entrances one East, West & North.

The East entrance will have a Whimsical English Tudor appearance, with rough stucco and large hand hewn timber framing. A large arched wooden door with massive hinges and large carriage bolts holding it together.

This entrance will have a mystical, heartful and spiritual feel. It will have a symbolic rich plaque above the door with the words "LOVE TRUTH & LIGHT" engraved. As one enters, there will be a place to put coats, boots etc. Then one passes drawn beads of light to purify the soul as you enter the home.

The West entrance will be made to have the feel and appearance of a small royal castle, 400 years back in time. The exterior will have the appearance of a mid-evil fortress with mini-turrets, thin windows and a small mini bridge across a mini-moat or mini-cliff. A small maze hedge will be planted outside nearby. The room inside will be quite formal with a high ceiling. It will be mostly stone with old oak trim (stained dark). This room will contain the old English antiques and paintings with large guilded gold frames A large wrought iron candle chandelier will be suspended overhead on an old thick rope. There will be a secret stairway to upstairs cleverly hidden. Old posters will line the ceiling.

The North entrance will be up on the back of the house entering onto the second floor. It will feature a large round wooden door entering into a darkish cave. This entrance will have huge bench and lots of space for boots, jackets and skis. It will be close to the upstairs bedrooms. It will have a cave-like hallway that leads to the upper wooden deck overlooking the main living room.

This entrance will have a fun, magical, natural and earthy feel to it. The hallway will appear to be lit by candles embedded into nooks in the walls. This area will have pictures of Bilbo, Gandalf and Smog the dragon and other noteworthy dragons and wizards.

This room will highlight the lazy dragon fireplace and a large timber frame roof. There will be a cozy pit where a friendly dragon is lying down on its back. Its head will be under a hollowed-out tree with knarly roots extending into the ground. The fire will be set in the dragon's mouth and the smoke will flow up the center of the large cedar/redwood like tree.

There will be large curved windows on the South side of the room. With indoor gardens naturally feed from the indoor gray-water. The floor will be part flagstone part earthen floor. It will be heated and cooled with passive solar energy, similar to the earthships, the High Mass floor and walls will act as thermal mass. The ceiling will be super insulated. Some additional natural light will also be found near the back of the room from the library skylight. This room will be optimized for sound reproduction quality and have built-in bass speakers. It will be a large room suited for parties yet cozy near the fireplace. It will be a well-grounded place with a feeling of excitement love and beauty deep meaning and mystery. There will be little nooks into the walls to hold candles and oil lamps for nighttime lighting. One spot in the room will have a bright halogen light behind the two-headed dragon for a backlit effect as well as to project the shadow on an adjacent wall. Yet the light is to not go directly in to anyone's eyes. Hidden indirect efficient lighting for this room will be powered by solar or micro-hydro electric power.

Behind the living room will be the enchanted library. It will feature a large circular skylight and a bright dome roof. The floor is slightly elevated from the main living room. The north side will be curved and lined with wooden bookshelves of all sizes. The shelves will still have the bark exposed and live vines will climb the pillars that hold the shelves up. Many of the books will be displayed by cover.

This room is enchantment, entertainment, fantasy and research; a center for learning and growth. It will also serve as a center for meditation with the white Christos light at night. The Library space will also be a stage for "charity" talent nights. A wire will be placed so a suspended curtain that can be drawn to present a show on stage.

On the Southwest corner of the house, South of the castle entrance is the Jacuzzi room. This room will have a heart shaped Jacuzzi built into the ground surrounded by gardens. Small discreetly hidden speakers will be hooked into the central hi-fi system. The curved glass wall will extend from the South end around to the East wall to offer a stunning view into outdoors with view of nature, lake and the mountains in the distance. This space will be lit and heated by the sun during the day and lit by the stars and candles at night. This will feel like a relaxing extension into nature.

The Kitchen will be on the East side of the house to catch the morning sunrise. This room will be ergonomically designed to maximize utility. Utensils, appliances and food will be kept in naturally intuitive places that are easy to reach, easy to use and close at hand. Nothing will be stored more than an arm's reach away for the task at hand. The kitchen will feature a solar oven on the south side and a massive High Mass wood stove closer to the interior of the house. An earthship High Mass refrigerator will be built on the north side of the kitchen. Easy access to cold storage will be included in the design. It will also contain an automatic dishwater hooked into grid power.

This room will also feel like an extension to outdoors with the southern windows. An interior herb & vegetable garden will be feed from the sink gray water. The floor will have a Mexican style tile floor and be quite pretty. Outside we will build a clay/cob oven to cook and bake bread in the summer.

Behind the bookshelves in the library and under the upper wooden deck is a hidden area. The back wall will be bearmed into the earth using either cement or tires rammed with earth (Earthship style). A couple of bunk beds will be embedded into the walls for emergency bedding for guests with curtains for privacy. May put a side down to this area from the kid's rooms.

There will be a separate area for the washer and drier; we need reasonable access to a clothesline for natural drying. Hooks and lines will be installed in the ceiling for winter natural drying if required. A sound resistant door will be required for this room. A tool room and cold storage room will also be located in this area. Lots and lots of strong shelves will be built-in so we can buy in bulk.

The Home office will be quiet and well organized with computers, fax and phone. A home security control center may also reside in this room. Lots of file storage space will be designed into this room. The room will have large ergonomically designed desk space arrangement and good chairs. The lighting to this room will be natural and/or broad-spectrum lighting. Main access to this room is through the castle entrance.

This will be a very quiet and private room that has a skylight over the bed. The head of the bed will be on the north side of the room. All electrical fields are kept far from the bed. There will be an abundance of closet space in this room.

Surround stereo speakers will be embedded into the walls. There will be an en-suite bathroom with a Jacuzzi bathtub. Thick strawbale wall to the north side for insulation with cob on the inside for mass. There will be small windows on the north side with a large sill on the inside for indirect natural light. There will be larger windows to the West and yet larger windows to the South so light can heat the cob mass on the back wall. There will also be a passageway down to the castle entrance.

This room will be like Yoda's home in the "Star Wars" movies with a higher ceiling and a domed skylight. The whole room will have curved arches with rounded nooks and crannies a rounded hallway to the rest of the house. This will be like a separate pod not directly connected to the rest of the house. It will feature round windows and lots of storage space. This room will have a feeling of mystery, wonder and adventure, an entertaining alien intrigue

This room will be almost square shaped with rounded corners and uneven but smooth walls. The inspiration for this room is from piglets home in the "Winnie the Pooh" stories and movies. Piglet's house is built under a large tree and the large roots show at the top of the walls. We will use driftwood to recreate the roots embedded into the walls.

The lights will be stars on the ceiling and a hidden access to a bathroom; this room will be pretty, simple, calming and grounded. Large closet space with hidden access to small secret room.

He just wants a room that is fun, peaceful and quiet. Oh yeah, he also wants a secret slide to living room from closet.

Still in the very preliminary stages but here are a few possible options

The house will require some additional sources of heating for the cold & cloudy times of year. But less than most "conventional" efficient homes including strawbale due to the passive solar design coupled with the extremely high mass in this design. We will use firewood, (dead wood) for our additional heating requirements. The house will be well insulated and have the high mass using sustainable materials. The house will be more geological than biological for long life. As well the systems with-in the house will be very efficient as to not impact our planet. We still have lots of areas to figure out but Creativity is the key. We are still unsure of what I want to do with the roof. I do want to capture the water to use as our well is down the hill from the house. But I want to have an organic looking roof like the mushroom house in Whistler BC.

One of the things I would like to do is build loudspeakers right into the walls of some of the rooms. Cob can make a fantastic speaker box as it can be molded into any shape and once it hardens it's like cement, very dead acoustically. One question I have is what would make the perfect shape of the room for sound? None of the walls will be straight so that should minimize standing waves but still some shapes I expect will perform better than other shapes. More thought needed here!

Creative ideas welcome! Drop us a line.