Conscious Choice: Circular Houses

March 2001 | Sensible Home

Circular Houses

by James Dulley

Dear Jim: We are planning a new house and we want it to be an open spacious design that can utilize passive solar heating and cooling to hold our total monthly costs down. What do you think of round (not dome) houses? — Ed H.

Dear Ed: Circular houses are an efficient design due to their geometry. They are also uniquely attractive and are often completely surrounded by large windows, multilevel porches, and decks for the openness you desire.

The interior room layouts can be as breathtaking as the exterior. Some circular houses use a self-supporting roof design, which gives you the freedom to locate interior walls anywhere. With few or no interior load-bearing walls, you can use glass blocks and other materials for unique room shapes.

Take a clue from nature; round is the preferred shape for shelters, e.g.,. bird and squirrel nests, bee hives, etc. Animals are often smarter than people — they would not waste materials on rectangular dwellings. A circular design is naturally stronger and resists damage from high winds.

Circular houses have about 28 percent less wall area than rectangular ones with the same living space. This means not only fewer wall materials, but lower utility bills too. The amount of heat that a house loses in the winter or gains in the summer is proportional to the amount of wall area.

Since you are on a budget, select one of the panelized "circular" house kits. Instead of being truly curved walls, which would be expensive to build, these houses are constructed of many flat wall panels. When up to twenty insulated wall panels are used, it has a circular appearance.

These house kits are available in plans from 800-square-foot bungalows to more than 4,000-square-foot dream homes. For even more area, you can connect two units side-by-side or build a hybrid design with some typical rectangular room additions. The exterior is often finished with siding (wood, vinyl, brick) or stucco.

The quality and workmanship on circular houses is outstanding. Each custom-made panel is built in a factory to your specific plan. The lumber never gets wet. It is assembled in jigs so the tolerances are exact. This makes airtight assembly simple at your site and you can do some of the work yourself.

In the winter, the many windows allow full advantage of passive solar heating. In the summer, the circular peaked roof naturally vents the hot air.

Another unique design has fewer sides (often octagonal) and is built on a pedestal. The bedrooms are often on the first floor and the living area is on the second floor for openness with skylights, vaulted ceilings, etc. The kits come complete with spiral staircases and super-insulated floor and roof panels.

Write for (or instantly download) Update Bulletin No. 915, listing circular house kit manufacturers, eight floor plan layouts and exterior diagrams, sizes, and construction specifications. Please include $3.00 and a business-size SASE. James Dulley, Conscious Choice, 6906 Royalgreen Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45244.

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