This ingenious couple has built a bizarre futuristic home inside a giant greenhouse that is designed to dramatically reduce their carbon footprint.
The house was built by architect Koen Vandewalle and his wife Samia Wielfaert in Rekkem, a town in the province of West Flanders in Belgium.
The “greenhouse residence” as the project is officially called involves the property being built inside a gigantic greenhouse of 98 by 39 feet.
Underneath the glass panes, the house with a wooden frame occupies about half of the surface area.
On the ground floor of the house the kitchen, living room and a storage room can be found, while the bedrooms of the Belgian couple and their five children are located in the basement under the ground. The top floor of the house features an office and meeting room.
Vandewalle said: “The goal is that we will have a completely passive house.”
According to the Belgian architect, this means that the house will not be connected to the electricity, gas and water network.
He said: “Solar energy will be stored in batteries. And the rain water is caught in three barrels of 20,000 litres after passing through lava filters.
“Even for a dry summer like the one we just went through, that is more than sufficient. Because we basically placed our house underneath a glass bell, we will also use a lot less heating in winter than a normal house.”
Vandewelle explained that during the summer they can use the energy from the solar panels to cool down the house, or even open the sliding doors and windows of the greenhouse.
He said: “Because we have the sleeping rooms in the basement, we will anyway have quite cool nights.”
The glass panes of the greenhouse are made from layered glass similar to car windows so they can resist hailstorms and even children who might bump into them while playing around the house.
It does however require a special cleaning service to stop by once a year to clean the windows.
The space in the greenhouse which is not occupied by the house will be used by the family to grow their own tomatoes, cucumbers and even grapes.
Vandewelle said: “If you compare it to a traditional house which costs 196,000 EUR (173,382 GBP), such a greenhouse residence will cost 254,800 EUR (225,385 GBP).
“But after 15 years you will be better off because of energy savings.”
He said that building the greenhouse residence took just as long as a normal house.
The Belgian architect is already thinking of taking the concept a step further.
Vandewalle said: “We are working on a project in Ghent where we will place six lofts in a sort of greenhouse with rooftop garden.”
Story By: Koen Berghuis, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
