Staying warm in countries like Sweden, where it is cold for long periods of time can rack up quite a long heating bill. Furthermore, it is powered by oil or coal and is certainly not green for the environment. A Swedish couple living in Stockholm came up with a brilliant idea to cut down on the electricity bills.
Marie Granmar and Charles Sacilotto came up with an ingenious plan to cut down on the heating bills by making a structure that was not only groundbreaking but beautiful.
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Stockholm, like most parts of Sweden, is a cold place most of the year.
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The interior of their house looks very much like a normal house but their house is not a normal house.
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What makes their house different is that they have surrounded their home with a huge greenhouse. This provides an ideal climate for growing plants.
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It also keeps the home warm enough that the Swedish couple does not have to dish out dough on heating methods.
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This unique home was known as the “naturhus” or “nature house”. It stayed warm all year round and heating bills were not to be worried about.
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Charles came up with this idea with his architect friend, Bengt Warne. The architect originated this concept in 1974 and had already helped a dozen of people by making similar houses.
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Following the design, the house was covered by 4mm thick glass.
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As the house did not come in contact with rain and snow, the untreated wood looked fresh all through the year.
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They were also able to grow their own food without having to step out of the house.
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They ate organic food, free of pesticides. They also saved quite a bit on the groceries as well.
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“It’s not just to use the nature, the sun and the water,” Charles explained.“It’s all a philosophy of life. To live in another world, in fact.”
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Bengt agreed: “Living in a greenhouse gives architecture a fourth dimension, where time is represented by movements of naturally recycled endless flows of growth, sun, rain, wind, and soil in plants, energy, air, water, and earth.”
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It is no doubt a very beautiful house and the Swedish couple is very happy living there. You can check it out in the video below: