Homework: Off the Grid
Living away from it all no longer means living without.
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Every off-the-grid home needs to be customized to the local conditions, as well as to the needs and budget of the homeowner. Collecting rainwater in the Bahamas, for instance, can be as low-tech as using a rain barrel. Or it can be as involved as the system that Raleigh, North Carolina, architect Frank Harmon incorporated into a vacation home project on Abaco Island. The system allows rainwater to collect in a rooftop "dish" and drain through a steel column to cisterns located within the house. The most elaborate off-the-grid homes can incorporate high-end theater systems, hot tubs, or top-of-the-line kitchen appliances, but they will require a larger alternative-energy source and more space to install it.Living away from it all in style is achievable if the desired
experience and budget are clear from the beginning. The cost of living off the
grid may be relatively low for a breezy palapa home on the beach, or it may
require the creation of a family legacy for a snowy mountaintop lodge in the far
reaches of the world. The sky—and the sun, wind, and water—is the only limit.
Lori Ryker is the author of
Off the Grid (Gibbs Smith, 2005), Off the Grid Homes (Gibbs Smith,
2007), and Mockbee Coker: Thought and
Process (Princeton Architectural Press,
1997). She holds a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard Graduate School of
Design and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. She founded and teaches at the
Artemis Institute in Livingston, Montana, where she also runs her practice,
Studio Ryker. www.studioryker.com,
406.222.4704
Frank Harmon,
919.829.9464, www.frankharmon.com
Kimberly
Ackert, 917.566.0056,
www.ackertarchitecture.com
Brett Nave, 406.222.7488, www.studio-bna.com
