Perry Home

The Perry home is a 2,000 square foot home located on a mesa overlooking the Santa Fe, New Mexico prairie. The home is off the grid and was designed to be completely sustainable. Electrical power is supplied by a small array of photo voltaic cells. The heating is passive solar designed to heat the home for three consecutive cloudy days without relying on the auxiliary, in-slab radiant heating. The walls and ceiling are heavily insulated. The roof overhang is designed to let in sunlight during the winter months and provide shade from late March through early September.
In this very dry climate water is scarce. Large cisterns are located around the home to store snow- melt and rainwater for potable water use during dry months. Grey water effluent from the on-site septic system is used for irrigation and to flush toilets. The septic system provides primary and secondary treatment so the treated sewage effluent will not endanger the environment.
There is a small propane powered emergency generator that can be called on to recharge the batteries when there are more than three consecutive cloudy days. The refrigerator and stove are powered by propane gas.
The home is post and beam construction using engineered timbers that were fabricated from quick growing trees and recycled plastic. The plastic is used in the manufacturing process as the adhesive to laminate the wood strands into beams and columns. The walls are traditional stucco and the roof is galvanized steel.