Introduction

Welcome to the Beagle Brook blog! Aspen Design Inc. is a custom home design/build company that focuses on design that appeals to the style and taste of our clients while maintaining a sustainable and green approach. We invite you to join us on the journey as we build the “Beagle Brook Farm” home, a passive solar structure in Northeast Ohio. The goal of this blog is to accomplish three things. First, we want to introduce our company and the service we provide to our readers. Second, we want to share our passion for building a more sustainable future, and third, we want your feedback. We look forward to reading your comments and questions, so please share them with us.


Wikipedia defines a passive solar building as one that aims to maintain interior thermal comfort throughout the sun’s daily and annual cycles while reducing the requirement for active heating and cooling systems. Our main objective in designing Beagle Brook was to produce a passive solar home with a thermally comfortable interior environment that expends minimal energy to support the mechanical heating and cooling systems. Healthy indoor air quality and reduced utility bills are important to the homeowners. Working with them, we determined that the direct gain system was the best approach for Beagle Brook. The main principles that are incorporated with the direct gain system are:

1) Allow maximum solar radiation to reach the interior during the colder months.

2) Shade the interior from solar radiation during the warmer months.

3) Use thermal mass to control and disperse the solar radiation, and

4) Design a well-insulated structure to control the different interior and exterior environments.

During our Beagle Brook journey, we will explain how these principles guided our design decisions and highlight some of the special details and features we are using to create a well-insulated structure.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Interior Thermal Mass


This week is coming to conclusion and we have the interior concrete wall up and braced. This will be the main thermal mass material in the home. It is orientated directly south and will receive full sun light during the winter months. The concrete wall is 6" thick, 12'-0" wide and soars 12'-0" off the first finished floor. This element will not only be the main thermal mass, but will also be the focal point of the main entry to the house and the public living spaces. The concrete wall is located in the center of the home so it will radiate the heat efficiently throughout the entire home producing a consistent thermal comfort in all the rooms. This will also attract the solar radiation that enters in the summer and will be able to collect this heat and release it later in the evening as a night flushing system.
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