Tucson Innovative Home Tour 2003
A balance of sun, fun
Homes on solar tour show how to live in harmony with desert

by Joan F. Barrett
Special to the Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Sunday, 19 October 2003

Passive solar design, thermal-mass construction and solar water heating contribute to energy conservation at the West Side home of John Solso and Sybil Aldridge.
  Completed in January, the 1,744-square-foot adobe dwelling is in the Milagro Cohousing community, which showcases examples of how to live in harmony with the desert.
  Next weekend, the Solso/Aldridge residence will be one of 30 in the Tucson area to be featured on the Tucson Innovative Home Tour and National Solar Tour 2003. Each house will be open on either Saturday or next Sunday.

Tucson Innovative Home Tour
Organized by Tucson's Solar Institute in collaboration with other nonprofits, the annual event features new ways to have better homes - such as roofs that last longer, water harvesting, a higher comfort level with passive-solar design.
  The Solar Institute supports community action and individual choice in creating sustainable homes and community environments.
  During the tour, residents, architects, builders, suppliers and others who contributed to design and construction will be available to talk with visitors, says Paul Huddy, Solar Institute director.
  "You can learn what works, what doesn't and how to avoid pitfalls," he said.
  Highlights include examples of solar-energy systems; an award-winning accessible residence honored by the Tucson Commission on Disability Issues; the home featured in the book "A House of Straw: A Natural Building Odyssey"; and the area's two completed cohousing communities, Milagro and Sonora.

Arizona Planning Association Award
  Cohousing, a concept that originated in Denmark, brings people together to plan and to live in a development that embraces private homes and joint ownership of land, common buildings and equipment. Proponents say this approach fosters camaraderie, instead of the isolation that generally occurs with suburban living.
  Milagro earned the "Best Project for 2001" award from the Arizona Planning Association. Twenty-eight townhouses, which have an earlier-era character but a contemporary design, cluster on eight acres surrounded by a 35-acre nature reserve.
  The neighborhood, which consists of at least 50 residents, has a pedestrian core with peripheral parking. "You park your car and you can't reach your own house without stopping and chatting with some of the neighbors," Solso says. "I know everyone who lives here, and I know them very well."
  His two-story residence opens for the tour next Sunday, along with at least four others in the ecologically focused neighborhood.
  In addition to energy-saving features, the development has a special wetlands system that treats and recycles all wastewater.
  Landscaping seeks to conserve water with a design that retains rainwater where it falls. For example, flat patios allow rain to soak directly into the soil between cracks of brick pavers - or through the pavers themselves - into the sand and soil below, instead of streaming off elsewhere.
  Green-colored, standing-seam steel roofs with R-30 fiberglass insulation cap each home's exposed cement-stabilized adobe walls. Front porches invite residents to sit outside and interact with passers-by.

Inside one of the homes
  Though these elements provide a common theme, each homeowner had the opportunity to incorporate features that didn't meddle with the basic footprint. "I couldn't move a wall or change the material of a wall," Solso, 74, explains.
  But the retired architect semi-customized the $284,234 house with a foyer to act as a buffer between the front door and the kitchen. He and Aldridge, an administrative assistant with the Pima County Department of Transportation, also eliminated attic storage.
  "We're trying to simplify our life," Solso stresses. "We don't want to collect things."
  That includes high utility bills. Their average monthly electric bill for the summer (May-August) was only $23.51.
  Techniques for energy conservation begin at the front entrance, which has a northern exposure and a large double-glazed window. The covered porch helps shield against summer heat. An11-watt compact fluorescent porch lamp provides illumination in the area at night. Insulated fiberglass contributes to the R-10 front door.
  Inside, the 14-inch-thick exposed adobe walls and the 5-inch-deep concrete floor offer thermal mass to assist in heating and cooling. An evaporative cooler with a propeller (rather than a traditional squirrel-cage-type blower) also helps to achieve comfortable interior temperatures.
  Manufactured by Southwest Solar, the Solar Chill unit requires minimal electrical power to move abundant air. Eventually, the home will have solar panels, so the cooler can be powered by the sun.
  Savings in the kitchen come from an over-the-counter 8-watt lamp, which offers ample light for chopping and cooking, and a Bosch dishwasher without a drying cycle. The tall, narrow ConServe refrigerator, manufactured by Equator Corp., advertises an energy usage of $2.50 monthly. Gas - used only for a cooktop stove - costs between $8 and $10 monthly.
  No oven exists in the house. Instead, Solso relies on a solar cooker, which he built more than 20 years ago, to prepare meals such as dill zucchini on the back patio. He estimates that it takes from four to five hours to cook an average dish, depending on the size of the course.
  A glass door and a large window, shaded with green metal awnings, look out on the patio from the living room's south side. On the west, one small glass-block window deters heat but lets in light.
  In the first-floor bathroom, a 5-watt ceiling lamp and a glazed glass door offer inexpensive illumination. The second-floor bathroom relies on a solar tube for light throughout the day.
  Pine makes up the steps that connect the two stories, as well as the second level's flooring. An oak railing runs along the open side of the corridor between the upstairs study and master bedroom, where a timer switch controls the closet light.
  The balcony outside the bedroom provides a good summer sleeping porch. It also offers a view of the central common house, an important part of the community. Residents meet there for many activities, including potlucks and lectures. Amenities range from a laundry room to an outside swimming pool.
  Solso clearly enjoys mingling with others at Milagro. "I could have gone out and built on a lot and did everything my way," he says. "But I wouldn't have the neighbors - just a house."

If you go
  What: Tucson Innovative Home Tour and National Solar Tour 2003 - "Community Sharing of New and Better Ways to be at Home in the Desert" - self-guided tour of about 30 homes.
  When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m.-4 p.m. next Sunday; different homes open each day.
  Where: Greater Tucson area
Admission: $10 per person or family; bring a friend for $5; one ticket good for both days; proceeds benefit community information and referral services, low-income housing programs.
  Tickets: Addresses, directions and maps are included with tickets: Antigone Books, 411 N. Fourth Ave.; Reproductions Inc., 234 E. Sixth St.; Illuminations Lighting, 2640 E. Broadway; Sun Lighting, 4545 E. Broadway; Ike's Coffee & Tea, 3400 E. Speedway; Reader's Oasis, 3400 E. Speedway; Mostly Books, 6208 E. Speedway; Copenhagen, 3660 E. Fort Lowell Road; Book Stop Used Books, 2504 N. Campbell Ave.; Green Fire Bookshop, 925 E. Fort Lowell Road; House 'N Garden Furniture, 250 E. Wetmore Road; Wild Birds Unlimited, 7090 N. Oracle Road and 5615 E. River Road; Silverbell Trading, 7119 N. Oracle Road
  Information: 792-6579 or www.solarinstitute.org

Next Generation Home Course
Want to plan, build or buy a desert-adapted home? Hope to remodel a house to make it more harmonious with the Southwest climate? Check out the Next Generation home course, where local experts will share ideas, advice and noncommercial information. Innovative products also will be on display.
  The class will meet from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 8, in the school auditorium at Temple Emanu-El, 225 N. Country Club Road.
  Admission is $10 with a Tucson Innovative Home Tour and National Solar Tour 2003 ticket; otherwise, an individual or a family pays $20. Bring a friend for $5.
  For more information, call 792-6579; e-mail tour@solarinstitute.org; or visit: www.solarinstitute.org

For more information on Milagro CoHousing, see their website at www.milagrocohousing.org

Many thanks to Joan Barrett and the Arizona Daily Star for their kind permission to reprint this great article. © Article copyright 2003, Joan F. Barrett. Photos copyright 2003, Arizona Daily Star.

Special thanks to John Solso and Sybil Aldridge, and the other wonderful people of Milagro CoHousing for leading the way and sharing what they have learned with the rest of the community on the Tucson Innovative Home Tour.

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Credits: We would like to thank the City of Tucson, Pima County, the Tucson Commission on Disability Issues, Tucson-Pima County Metropolitan Energy Commission and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for support and funding, as well as the many organizations and individuals who have contributed to making these community initiatives such a success.

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