Living in a Modern Glass home.

Hello All,

I'm in the dreaming/design stage of possibly building my own home. I really like the Modern Glass home style and I'm thinking of incorporating it into my future home. I invision something like The Sagaponac House-43 as displayed in this picture.

So I have some questions for those that currently live or have lived in a home with a substantial amount of glass used as a wall.

I live in Atlanta Georgia area and we have hot humid summers and winters that usually get down to the teens. How comfortable is it living in a home that has one wall mainly made up of glass in these kind of conditions? Did you find that heating and cooling was much more than a conventional home? Does it always feel cold in the winter with all that glass?

Thanks,

Paul

Paul,
I helped design a house down in Phoenix Arizona that had expansive glass on all sides of the house. We had large overhangs and very energy efficient solar reflective glass. I would tell you that there are a few things to keep in mind.

1) Orientate the direction of the house to best fight passive solar gain.
2) Hire a mechanical engineer to size your equipment so that it takes into account the conditions you are designing to. Some companies would go design build which they don't think about the equipment until it is being put in and usually not ballanced properly for a large area of glass.
3) Have large overhangs to counteract the sun to keep the glass in shadow as much as possible during the hottest time of day.

The government may have solved your problem for you. Many parts of the country have adopted an energy code that basically requires a minimum average R-value for exterior walls and the roof. There are probably some high-tech but also high cost windows that will allow you to use more glass and you can always use a super efficient envelope (e.g. SIPs) to offset the glass issue, but still, I think glass boxes are a thing of the past. Of course, you could still have a couple of rooms with walls of glass I think and if they are reasonably efficient, I think the only condition you will want to avoid is direct sunlight coming through a wall of glass in the afternoon.

I grew up in Toronto a 60's house where the back wall of the living/dining room was all glass (about 35 feet long). Now I live in a ~90 year old brick house with small windows. The 20's house is MUCH colder and draftier in the winter.
As everyone else has mentioned, overhangs are your friend. Our house had a crazy overhang on that side.

Hi Paul,
We're reaching the end of a gut rehab of a 1951 modernist home, also in Atlanta (Morningside/Lenox Park neighborhood.) Every room has a wall of windows...except the living room, which has two glass walls, and my future office, which has only a 1/2 wall window. The house is one story and oriented east-west; there are large overhangs as well as mature trees to provide shade. Believe it or not we've been working in the house every day this summer without air conditioning on until this week...with all the rain we had to finally close the windows and crank it up. We'll know a lot more about the energy loss/gain after we move in!
Maggie

To reiterate what Rous said, we're replacing a couple of walls of glass and adding some more glass in our remodel and we're using thermal break alum. windows. These are not the most efficient windows so we're having to make sure we make up R value in other areas. Still, thermal break aluminum windows are probably better than the single pane plate glass that's already there. We're also insulating the whole house which was not done. I bet radiant heat would be a good way to counteract the chilly windows.

Paul,

I suggest you get to know SouthFace and the EarthCraft house program. SouthFace is a non-profit, located in midtown, that works to promote sustainable and energy efficient commercial and residential building. They have programs that take a systems approach to energy efficiency, and they can provide an unbiased evaluation of a building or renovation plan complete with suggestions for improvments. SouthFace is a terrific resource for anyone in the Southeast.

Sydney

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate all the comments. Everything I've researched pretty much coincides with what all of you are stating. So I now understand that more efficiant glass, south facing windows, large over-hangs, etc... will all contribute to making a glass house more livable.

However, I'm still having a hard time finding personal accounts of what it's really like to live in these types of homes, especially from those who have taken the above steps. I guess it's little things that most don't think of that I'm interested in. Call them negatives, or maybe quirks of living in a glass house if you will.

Thanks,

Paul

I have just built a house in Louisville, Kentucky with large expanses of glass. My suggestions: Get good shades that reflect sunlight. You might want to consider exterior shades -- those that are attached to the outside of the house. These are common in Europe. I was just in Paris and they're eveywhere. When the exterior shades are down, especially during the most intense summer sun, light never actually touches the windows, so they are more effiencient than traditional indoor shades.

I have discovered that, if your house is designed correctly (re: hire the right architect familiar with green design), and you spend the extra money to have double pane, low E glass, living in a glass house is comfortable, though it will never be like living in a traditional home with small windows. If you'd like to know more, e-mail me at chrisdpoynter@yahoo.com I can send photos, suggestions, etc.

Chris Poynter