Tucson Innovative Home Tour 2005

Review of Homes:  What You Can See on the Tour This Year

This year’s tour has a terrific variety of great homes and new innovations, many of which have never been open to the public before. There are many highly acclaimed and award-winning homes and many waiting to be discovered. As ever, there are more homes new on the tour than homes reappearing from last year. There are over 20 homes, plus four eco- and co-housing communities and several homes that were under construction during last year's tour, now complete and the owners moved in.

We’re really excited about the 10th Anniversary special tour this year. There are lots of great new ideas waiting for you, with opportunities to speak with the people who put them to good use. This is, by far, one of the largest selections of houses of this kind that you can find on a public tour like this anywhere in the world. You'll also get to meet some very interesting, knowledgeable, accomplished, and nice people.

Numbers correspond to the numbers of the tour guide, so you can select the homes you would like to visit from this site and easily find them in the guide. The tour is two days, Saturday and Sunday. In general, the homes are different each day.
  Saturday, October 29: 13 locations, numbered 1 - 13 below
  Sunday, October 30:   12 locations, numbered 2, 8, 9, 14 - 22 below

Saturday, October 29

(1) Best Planned Community in Arizona Award
First Place Award for Best Planned Community in Arizona from Arizona Planners Association. It is the largest adobe construction project in the State of Arizona. Still under construction during last year's tour, everyone has now moved in and there are a lot of interesting and unique things to see. Community members will welcome visitors with displays, information and guided tours.
  Co-Housing is an intentional community where people join together to buy land, plan the development, own their own house but share in the ownership of land, common buildings and equipment. It makes possible a community experience that has been lost over time in much of America. Also, through joint ownership and sharing, members can have much greater resources than they might by themselves. The members of this particular community share a strong environmental interest and commitment. They are seeking to create “a community in balance with nature.” They are building a residential development of 28 townhouses clustered on 8 acres in a parcel of 43 acres in the Tucson Mountain foothills. It has a pedestrian core with peripheral parking. Features include passive solar design with thermal mass construction using pressed adobe, plus solar water heating and electricity. A very special wetlands system treats and recycles all wastewater. Landscape design follows permaculture principles and practices, leaving most of the land in its natural state, roof rainwater catchment flowing into cisterns, vegetated basins and organic gardens, paving of all roads and parking with a permeable surface and many other environmentally sound practices. It also will have a 3400 sq ft common house, pool, spa, playgrounds, meditation area and nature trails. They are planning a good welcome on Saturday, so don’t miss it.

(2) Artist's home nestled in the desert
Inspired by the Innovative Home Tour, this artist collaborated with a builder on a beautiful desert-adapted home that fits in well with its environment.
  Natural, non-toxic and recycled materials, healthy home, energy and water efficient, xeriscape and native landscaping, and solid geometry. In fact, the geometry is unique: imagine a triangular center with circles at each corner. This is a fascinating example of how to build using dome principal and strong triangular structure in an unobtrusive and practical way. They authored a book about their experience, House as Teacher: Building the Future Now. It's about heart and spirit, creativity and art. Note: somewhat longer drive, some on a dirt road.
  There is a very pleasant bonus to this one: you will also have a chance to see a lot of the art! Featured in the Arizona Daily Star.

(3) Nature center and desert preserve
A former residence donated to become a new 22-acre environmental center and desert preserve.
  You can see four major demonstration gardens to help you turn your own yard back into viable habitat for local flora and fauna - desert native, bird-attracting, butterflies and bees, and ethno-botanical - along with native landscaping, xeriscape, permaculture and water harvesting. The new Education Building has a solar photovoltaic electric power system on the roof. There is also a nature trail. Through means like this, we can collectively restore much of the desert habitat that was lost when our houses were built and also fit into the desert environment better ourselves. This stop can help you learn how. Note: somewhat longer drive.

(4) Rammed earth & Rastra with the works
A large new owner-built custom home, with walls of rammed earth and Rastra, in stunning location. Under construction.
  The owners of this home have had the experience of building four homes for themselves before this one. They get better every time. In this one, they have integrated passive solar design, high insulation, high thermal mass, radiant floor heating, instant hot water with water recovery system, rainwater harvesting, many other energy and water efficiency strategies, and much more. If you are interested in radiant floor heating, you will want to be sure to visit this one. Note: longer drive, some on a dirt road.

(5) The start of something very nice
It started as a large art studio/workshop, but will serve as home until the main house is built. Under construction.
  2200 sq ft home with passive solar design, radiant floor heating to be heated by solar, Rastra walls, R-45 structurally insulated panel (SIP) ceiling, copper roof, high performance triple-pane Pella windows, and much more. Note: longer drive, some on a dirt road. Near (4) above.

(6) Solar engineer/inventor and friends
This is not about the house, but the people and the inventions. If you are into hands-on solar energy and other alternatives, you'll love this.
  This unique stop is not showcase and definitely not about aesthetics. It's about an engineer who has been designing and building a wide range of practical, cost-effective, down-to-earth solar things for a long time. It's for those who would like to talk about solar energy from a long-time expert in the chaos of his workshop in a big trailer he plunked in his yard to give him the space he needed to work on things. The workshop now has three separate electrical systems and lots of fun stuff all over the place. This is about a completely unpretentious guy in a completely unpretentious workshop in a completely unpretentious part of town who, over many years, has tackled almost everything solar and made things better, from solar water heating to space heating and cooling to photovoltaic power systems to solar ovens. Even better, he will be joined by a number of his like-minded friends. You can see new developments in solar lighting, solar ice making, solar electroplating of jewelry, a 3-wheeled solar motorcycle, a biodiesel truck and solar cooking. A must stop for DIY technophiles. the party is here. For those who like to get their hands dirty and figure out how things work, this is the place.

(7) New home fits right in with barrio
This new home is all-modern inside, but draws on the advantages of traditional design for comfort and fits in with its historic neighborhood.
  The floor plan adapts the traditional zaguan concept to connect with an interior courtyard, enhancing natural ventilation and providing private outdoor living space. 12-inch thick ICF exterior walls, R-38 batts in ceiling, solar water heater, 14 SEER AC, scored concrete floors, sky lit wall and much more. New radiant heat shield film on skylights. 2300 sq ft. Owner built.

Walking Tour
There are a number of interesting houses in this area from past tours. Although they are not open for this tour, you might be interested in walking by them while you are in the vicinity. The locations will be provided in your tour guide.

(8) Large solar system shades parking while generating kiloWatts
Completed last month, this is the first large-scale use of solar photovoltaic modules integrated in a shading system for parking in Tucson.
  The new 60,000 Watt grid-tied system produces electricity and shades cars on the roof of the new 7-story parking garage. The building is also reputed to have the fastest elevator in town. Things are looking up downtown.

(9) Getting down to earth
A remarkable rammed earth home in historic neighborhood. Featured recently on KUAT TV
  Distinguished by beautiful natural materials in concert with modern advances, a high level of craftsmanship and integration with historic style. One of the owners is an architect, with a strong interest in historic local and regional building styles. He is also an artist with many creative and beautiful touches to his home. The rammed earth walls are particularly surprising, because they emulate the earth tones of northern Arizona canyon country rather than the browns we are used to seeing here. To do it, he conceived of a fascinating new approach to rammed earth. He also chose a long-lasting metal roof, polished concrete & hand hewn stone paver floors, steel interior studs and roof trusses, hand hewn stone lintels, sills and door surrounds, custom alder doors and did much of the work himself. Other practical and cost-effective features include hydronic floor heating, 14 SEER AC cooling, R-38 ceiling insulation with radiant heat barrier below the steel roof and high efficiency windows. The beautiful semi-interior provides a nice private outdoor living environment. Owner builder. Rammed earth construction by Quentin Branch. Completed 2001. 2150 sq ft.
  Bonus: You will also be able to see a large selection of Mexican folk art and crafts.

(10) An architectural gem that fits right in
The old house wouldn't hold up, so they replaced it.
  Designed by an acclaimed local architect to fit the small lot, older neighborhood and desert environment, it's low-key on the outside, but modern, comfy and cozy inside. Stuccoed Rastra walls, metal roof, colored concrete floors, adobe yard walls, oasis courtyard, passive solar, radiant floor heating, high performance windows, lots of vegetation and much more. Don't miss the super high-efficiency low-emission stand-alone soapstone Danish fireplace.
  Note: Although this is in town, there is no parking available at the house, except one spot reserved for handicap access. It will entail a short walk to get there.

(11) Foothills home goes natural with Green Roof
A new home with a large expanse of landscaped roof - the first “green roof” in Tucson.
  This striking custom home features about 3400 sq ft of landscaping on its roof, complete with waterproofing, soil, and plant cover. This “green roof” is intended to mitigate the impacts of urban runoff by slowing and absorbing runoff from the roof 50-90%. The soil and landscaping act as a filter, minimizing pollutants that would drain into the watershed the nearby river and riparian corridor. The reduction in runoff also reduces soil erosion on-site and downstream. The roof system is designed to harvest and retain up to 2” of rainwater beneath the soil, in a layer of gravel below grade. The soil also provides thermal mass and the vegetation provides shade, minimizing heat gain and loss through the roof. Green roofs also reduce the urban heat island effect, the increase in urban temperatures that result from reflected and radiated heat. The project was funded in part through grants from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The beautiful, yet highly functional, house is built of a new kind of Integrated Concrete Form, made of polystyrene foam and concrete, providing an insulation value of R-22, plus thermal mass from concrete filling and virtually airtight construction. It has passive solar design, high efficiency windows and other interesting features.

(12) CODI Lifetime Accessibility Feature Home
Feature of the Tucson Commission on Disability Issues for Inclusive Home Design.
  Are your parents facing expensive modifications of their home to accommodate them as they age? Have you ever invited your neighbor over, only to find that his wheelchair couldn't get up the front steps? Have you given any thought to the possibility that these things could also happen to you or someone close to you? Savvy people are now asking, why not build a house as if we were going to live in it for a lifetime - a home suitable for every stage of our lives, a home that can be easily adapted to fit our changing needs, a home for all seasons? Pima County studied what would take to do this for a new home and found that the basics would cost less than $80 to save tens of thousands of dollars.
  The home on this year's tour is a special personal environment for a high level of accessibility. Ron's service in the Coast Guard ended with a spinal cord injury in 1977. This home is built to V.A. specifications for such service connected injuries. Independent living is important to Ron. His home is equipped to allow him to live comfortably on his own, including sophisticated electronic communication and control systems. Ron is now a motivational speaker and leads a remarkably active life. He is an avid organic gardener and has designed rainwater harvesting systems, accessible raised bed organic gardens and accessible landscape with paved trails. Come and meet this remarkable man and see his remarkable home. Note: longer drive than most.

(13) New very afforable net-zero energy home
This new solar home is designed to produce all the electricity it needs, yet it's price is half that of the average single family residence in Tucson!
  2200 sq ft home with passive solar design, radiant floor heating to be heating by solar, Rastra walls, R-45 structurally insulated panel (SIP) ceiling, metal roof, high performance triple-pane Pella windows, and much more. Note: longer drive.

Sunday, October 30
Locations 2, 8 and 9 above are also available this day too

(14) Stunning Solar powered foothills home of rammed earth, straw bale and adobe
A new rammed earth, straw bale and adobe custom home built by one of Tucson's top custom builders, with photovoltaic system and lots of interesting features.
  The main house, of rammed earth, consists of two buildings, about 1800 sq ft total, enclosing a courtyard. It includes passive solar design, porches, breezeway, ceiling fans, high SEER heat pump, in-floor radiant heating, R-50 ceiling, radiant barriers, whole house fans, non-toxic finishes. The 600 sq ft passive solar straw bale guesthouse has concrete floors and both imperial plaster and mud plaster walls. The garage is built of pressed adobe block. Other features include a solar pv electric power system, rainwater harvesting with 20,000 gallon storage, xeriscape and natural desert. The central courtyard garden, created using a professional landscape designer, was featured in the Tucson Botanical Gardens Home Garden Tour. Note: somewhat longer drive, some on a dirt road.

(15) Urban Cohousing community
A cooperative urban eco-community with many interesting features
  The members of this cohousing community chose to live in an urban setting. Theirs is a development of 36 townhouses designed in partnership between the members, the developer and the architect. The common house in front is a cluster of 3 straw bale buildings with many amenities. A 2,000 W grid-tied solar photovoltaic system obtained far below retail price through the Tucson Solar Alliance’s Community Solar Co-op is on the roof and solar water heating is planned next. The air conditioning units are high efficiency water cooled units. The lush landscaping, a community project, is 90% xeriscape with attention to water catchment basins around every plant. A series of five shallow basins double as wilder landscape areas. With passive solar measures and high insulation, few homes use their heating at all in the winter. Air conditioning is needed, but bills are relatively low. You’ll enjoy seeing what a sense of community can do.
  Bonus: See the new solar pool heater they installed themselves. For those with swimming pools, solar pool heaters typically pay for themselves in only two years.

(16) Tucson's newest cohousing community
Tucson's newest cohousing community is also its largest.
  It has 48 attached homes in five ‘villages' on 5 acres. Community living, common house and other common facilities. Community organic gardens, water harvesting, composting, xeriscape, After winning a federal grant for urban permaculture, they have been avidly pursuing their garden and landscape plans. Passive solar design, energy efficiency, non-toxic healthy materials, recycling, and more.

(17) Home of award-winning landscape architect
This is the home of the winner of two 2005 Arizona Xeriscape Awards and others.
  How would you like to see what one of Tucson's top landscape architects does her home in one of Tucson's most exclusive neighborhoods? This mid-town oasis blends new plants with older established vegetation, innovative metal fences and trellises, brick, flagstone, colored concrete paving and benches, salvaged and recycled materials and more for a unique beuatiful and comfortable outdoor living environment. You might also be interested in the driveway of decomposed granite stabilized with Soil-Shield, an interesting, more natural alternative to concrete and asphalt.

(18) Big renovation project transforms house
A 6,000 sq ft major renovation of a mid-town home, recently featured on KUAT TV.
  Working with an architect and builder, the owners substantially redesigned the property, gutted much of the existing structure and greatly reconfigured it – a 2½ -year project with striking results, indoors and out. Upgrades include heavier insulation in roof, walls, doors, and garage doors, double-pane windows, energy-efficient lighting and daylighting, 14-SEER heat pump, ceiling fans, gas fireplaces, drip irrigation, water harvesting, used and recycled materials and products, and more.

(19) Model community
Winner of the Energy User News Building Award
  This is the most energy and water efficient community of its size in Tucson. Visitors can see three exceptional private residences with a wide range of interesting features.

(20) Home of solar scientist achieves super energy efficiency
This scientist is pushing the envelope on energy efficiency both at work and at hope
  At work, he is a scientist with a local photovoltaic manufacturer, developing the next generation of thin-film photovoltaics. At home, he pursues his passion by making his house as energy efficient as possible. In fact, his house has been independently monitored and found to be one of the most energy efficient in Tucson. Features include Structural insulated panels (SIPs), R-27 exterior walls, R-41 ceiling, 1.8 kW pv system, self-made solar LED yard lights, solar water heater, instant water heater, water harvesting, reclaimed water, and much more. His solar electric power system is one of the best in town, owner designed and installed. He'll also have a number of exhibits of new advances for you to see. If you are interested in solar energy, you won't want to miss this.

(21) Top energy engineer builds new home
This new home and headquarters of the head of an award-winning engineering practice has all sorts of interesting things.
  This is the new home and office of a founder of the Southern Arizona Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers, a man who holds a number of solar patents, and is at the height of a very interesting and accomplished career. The home has lots of fascinating features and special touches, but you'll enjoy talking with him too. 2500 sq ft - office downstairs, home upstairs. Certified Energy Star rating. 2000 W pv system, active circulating instant solar water heating, solar distilled water system on the roof supplies directly to taps, solar tube daylighting, Cunningham solar evaporative cooler, HEPA filter ventilation, rainwater harvesting, graywater, reclaimed water, garden courtyard and decks, plus the only tracking solar oven that we know of in town. If you are serious about solar and energy, you won't want to miss this either.

(22) New home pushes the envelope
This architect's new home combines lots of important design elements for very high efficiency and comfort.
  Designed by the architect/builder for himself and his family, this house is projected to have and average heating and cooling cost of only about $10 per month. Among the many innovative features are passive solar design, concrete masonry thermal mass walls with R-10 exterior panel insulation, 24" rammed earth walls, cool tower, ceiling fans, standing seam metal roof, R-38 structurally insulated panel (SIPs) ceilings, steel roof trusses with R-38 cellulose insulation, concrete floors with integrated color, low-e wood windows and exterior doors, rainwater harvesting and exterior graywater, outdoor "cowboy" shower. This is a great opportunity to see an extraordinary new house. Featured in the Arizona Daily Star.

Remember, there are more houses on the tour than can be meaningfully seen in one day. Choose the ones that most interest you. Take your time and talk with the owners, designers, builders and others. Enjoy your day and help others enjoy it too.

Please help pass the word ... and bring your family and friends. We look forward to seeing you.

Have fun! See you there!

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