Stockholm, Sweden can sometimes be a not-so-pleasant place to be in wintertime, especially if you don’t have heating and the average January temperature is about 27 degrees Fahrenheit.
However, Marie Granmar and Charles Sacilotto, along with their young son, have created a wonderful winter escape in the form of an environmentally friendly abode.
The couple recently let Fair Companies into their “Naturhus,” or Nature House, for a tour. The home is surrounded by a 4-millimeter pane of glass which costs them about $84,000 to install.
The Naturhus was built on the foundation of an old summer house located on a Stockholm archipelago. The home’s design was inspired by Bengt Warne, a Swedish eco-architect, who also happened to be Sacilotto’s mentor.
The family finds there are many advantages to living in a greenhouse. For one, the sunlight helps to warm the house throughout the day, and any residual heat is stored in the bedrock below the home. Also, the roof deck can be used for year-round activities including sunbathing, reading or playing with their son.
The environmentally conscious family is also very self-sufficient. The family collects rainwater for household needs as well as for watering their plants. All kitchen and garden waste becomes compost.
Sacilotto, who works as an engineer, even built a sewage system for the home.
According to Fair Companies, “the sewage system begins with a urine-separating toilet and uses centrifuges, cisterns, grow beds and garden ponds to filter the water and compost the remains.”
And since the home is a greenhouse, the family is able to grow their own produce like tomatoes, cucumbers, figs, grapes, and herbs – all items that normally wouldn’t survive a Scandinavian winter.
And for those concerned with the safety of living in a glass greenhouse, Sacilotto said to Fair Companies, “It’s security glass. So in principle, this can’t break. If it ever does, it will break in tiny pieces to not harm anyone.”
Tour the Naturhus in the video below: