The Greenhouse: Redefining Future Homes

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Architects envision the greenhouse of tomorrow to be more self-sustaining, energy-efficient, and environment-friendly, they will be better designed for greenhouse homes.

The Greenhouse Redefines Future Homes

The greenhouse could have a built-in layer of gardens with a variety of plants or layers of ponds with live fish for consumption, or perhaps a greenhouse that imitates a tree with instruments that convert the light of the sun into energy or produce oxygen from carbon dioxide.

Of course, one may be intrigued to find a greenhouse designed completely like that of a lizard, which changes its skin colour to suit  the weather conditions or heals itself when damaged.

These are the futuristic concepts of designs that a greenhouse may emerge when people with resources build their homes that will also completely provide almost everything for their daily family needs.

Green House Awareness

There is a growing awareness of building greenhouses all over the world, as this has become a pervasive trend in the construction industry.

Engineers and architects are redesigning buildings that could provide greater efficiency of energy consumption; and even contribute to the overall effect on the environment as buildings, like cars and highways, power plants spewing pollution into the air, are also big users of energy, such as electricity, water and heating.

According to estimates released by the U.S. Energy Department, the buildings are consuming about 39% of energy consumption. It also contributes the same percentage of greenhouse-gas emissions.

Green House Designs

Here are three greenhouse designs that you may choose or plan to build in the future.

“Out on a Limb” Design. This is a 3-storey building with levels for eating and living, for sleeping, for studio and garden deck.  It is made of three prefabricated containers stacked on top of each other and movable by a trailer if the mood fits. The greenhouse has a façade for gardens with chickpeas, tomatoes, and other vegetable plants that also provide shade and cooling inside the house. The rooftop is an evaporative reservoir that collects water and serves as a cooling system for the whole building. It has also rooftop windmills, a vertical axis wind turbine, which generates energy for home consumption.

“Tree-like Design. The exterior of this greenhouse design has photosynthetic layers that would capture sunlight, and interwoven-like leaves that decorate the exterior part. It can generate its own energy, create oxygen in the atmosphere, and offset carbon emitted from other parts of the house. It has also a slick, curved rooftop with overhang that provides shade. Thus, it reduces the heat load during summer and lessens energy consumption on air conditioning.

The “bark” of the greenhouse is thin, insulating film that cleans and heals itself, with no need to replace them through years of exposure to environmental elements. The “trunk” or the house frames are made of carbon tubes, and the “roots” is the heat-pump system immersed down the yard that utilises the comparatively consistent temperature of the soil to manipulate the climate inside the house. This system brings in heat during the winter, and cool during summer.

“Reptile-like Design. This greenhouse has a built-in “biomorphic skin” that would react to changes in weather conditions. It would turn the bright light of the sun that insulates the greenhouse from heat dark as well as turning clear on gloomy days to absorb more light and heat.

The front of the house catches raindrops and condensation to provide the water needs. This design captures the principle of the habitual characteristics of the desert-dwelling lizard that slurps the dewdrops to its mouth from the nose.

The interior walls and furniture designs are on rollers that would take advantage of some spaces underutilised during the day.

Small House is Beautiful

The future of houses would always look at the ways of nature in trying to solve the problems, as much as it would also look at technology. The construction industry looks at it as a concept of “bio-mimicry”, which views a house as a surface area of life and not a thing to be power-washed.

Architects agree that making a house in a compact manner is more sustainable. One needs to learn to live in smaller spaces where he wants to create an impact on the environment.

Thus, the concept of a small greenhouse has greatly influenced the designs that the construction industry has to consider in building houses in the future.

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