It’s a great way if you want to grow Mediterranean fruit in Sweden, despite lower outside temperatures, and at the same time with this greenhouse, the home gets a look like it’s from the ’60s.
This is an opportunity to experience the power of nature as Charles Sacilotto, and Marie Granmar did, living literally in an isolated setting and protected from unfavorable external weather.
And who could refuse free winter heating and free homegrown vegetables and fruits, all thanks to the isolation offered by the glass garden.
This is a great advantage if you live in a country like Sweden, where the winter lasts for just nine months.
In spite of the unfavorable external conditions, you can get warm in the isolated courtyard of Charles and Marie as the average temperature in Stockholm in January reaches below the freezing point.
In the following video below, they explain: “For example, at the end of January it could be 28 ° F outside, and it could be 68 ° F upstairs”.
According to Marie, sometime mid-September an average family in Stockholm turns on heating and doesn’t turn it off until mid-May.
With the greenhouse and this way of housing saves electricity consumption and reduces the home heating consumption from 9 to 6 months a year. Heating is provided thanks to sunlight, and in the days without sunshine heating is done with wooden stoves.
With this way of life, you are much easier to spend those depressing winter days, according to Mariе, because in that period she simply climbs to the roof of her home where she enjoys the remaining rare sun rays on the balcony, and at night she enjoys the glaring stars.
In the spring and summer, the upper part of the greenhouse opens, allowing for the release of excess heat created in those days when the heat becomes unbearable.
As she explains: “It can be warm for a few days in the summer,” but according to her it’s not a problem, “but that’s not really a problem because we open the windows and we enjoy the heat. We like the sun! ”
The roof of the house has a unique beauty because the deck represents a place where the whole family is gathered. In fact, they do not have a classic roof because it is removed, but it is the roof of the greenhouse that allows them to carelessly read books, to sunbathe, play with their son who can freely ride a bike, or raise their plants.
The glass garden allows plants to freeze through the winter, and at the same time they warm themselves up in the cold winter days.
The space in the greenhouse is large enough to allow the formation of a garden in which different plant species would be represented. This couple can freely raise grapes, cucumbers, figs, spices, and tomatoes since the climate in this garden is typically Mediterranean while they can freely grow apple trees and cherries outside the glass garden.
In the video, Marie clearly explains: “Growing things here is not easy,” so it clarifies: “We need all the extra energy we can get.”
The toilet has a built-in system that creates fertilizer for plants in a completely natural and environmentally friendly way, and on the roof, there is a system that collects rainwater that is later filtered and gets drinking water. In turn, the plants are grateful enough to release enough oxygen and thereby clean the air.
The way of living in this way consists of a special system consisting of ponds, cisterns, garden beds, and a toilet that filters the urine, and in the end, as a result of that system that processes wastewater, completely clean water is obtained.
This couple in an innovative way tries to preserve the excess sunlight from the summertime period so that it can be used in the winter.
Marie gives an explanation: “If you want to be self-sufficient, and not dependent on larger systems, you can have this and live anywhere you like.”
Charles explains from his point of view: “It’s all a philosophy of life, to use nature, sun, and water to live in another world.”
The idea of this way of living is not genuine, in 1974 in Stockholm, Swedish architect Bengt Warne built the first Natural House (“Naturhus“), and thus inspired the idea of Marie and Charles to build such a house in a greenhouse.
After this period, numerous homes of this type were sprouted in Germany and Sweden.
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