Designing a Sustainable House for Frigid Climates

In this project, I designed a house for frigid climates that allows its inhabitants to produce food, water, and electricity. By utilizing a spherical design, the structure is more resistant to the harsh winds typical of cold climates. Additionally, these harsh winds are harnessed to provide energy to the house through wind turbines. The electricity produced by the wind turbines can be used to provide heating, power household items, and power LED lights, which can be used to grow plants, thus addressing the issue of food scarcity. The snow around the house can be melted and put through a filter to provide clean water.

In this project, I created a design for a sustainable building using the Tinkercad software.

However, if the building was actually made, the materials needed would be:

• 2 concrete domes of the same size
• 1 concrete tunnel in the shape of a half-cylinder
• 2 beds with heating features or more (Maximum amount of beds is 4)
• 3 wind turbines
• Plants that provide food
• LED lighting to grow the plants
• Water heater
• Water filter
• Insulation
• 2 concrete domes of the same size to cover the insulation

The dome, made of concrete, will serve as the bedroom. Although there is supposed to be an opening on the right side of the dome, I could not find a way to create a hole in the structure. I added two beds with heating features, but the bedroom can accommodate up to four beds. The dome shape makes the structure more resilient to harsh winds compared to buildings with flat walls.

The tunnel, made of concrete, will be used to connect the garden and allow the residents to move between the two places. It should be in the shape of a half-cylinder. Additionally, the middle of the tunnel on the front side should have an entrance to the house, as shown in the picture. The round shape of the tunnel and the entrance also makes it more resilient to the wind compared to rectangular tunnels.

The dome should be the same size as the previous dome and also made of concrete. Additionally, there should be an opening on the left side of the dome to connect to the tunnel, but again, I could not find a way to create a hole in the structure. It will serve as the garden, which provides food for the inhabitants of the building. The plants will be given LED lights in the shape of a ring to compensate for the lack of sunlight. Although there are currently trees in the garden that provide food, this might change later depending on the resident living in the house, and vertical gardens might be used to grow smaller plants.

The three wind turbines will be wired to the house through underground cables if this house is built. The wind turbines should be sufficient to power the house and its household items, as frigid climates tend to produce a lot of wind. An example of frigid climates producing significant wind is the Arctic, where the average wind speed is 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour). However, the winds can reach up to 64 miles per hour (103 kilometers per hour).

In order for the inhabitants of the house to obtain water, they must collect snow or ice outside their home and heat it in a device located in the bedroom. This device, shaped like a tube, melts the ice into water. The residents can then use a portable filter, such as a LifeStraw, to purify the water.

Add insulation over the two domes (bedroom and garden) and the tunnel. The pink/purple color layer over the structure represents the insulation. Since the structure is not the traditional rectangular shape, spray insulation will be needed. The insulation will help keep the inhabitants warm in the frigid climate. As you might have already noticed, there are no windows. I purposely did not add windows because glass allows heat to escape more easily than other building materials, which is important in a frigid environment where the cold can be life-threatening.

The insulation needs to be covered because it can be a health hazard, as it can irritate the skin. The concrete cover is represented by the gray layer over the pink/purple layer.

As the residents of the structure decide on the interior design of the house, the overall design will be kept the same. However, the original size of the structure was quite small, so I decided to increase its size and make the surroundings look like a frigid climate. Additionally, since building this structure isn't cheap (it used a great deal of concrete), I decided to leave out the big space-consuming bathroom and kitchen, both of which can be replaced by portable versions and only built the essentials (shelter, food, and water). The bathroom can be replaced by a portable restroom or a portable toilet often used when camping, and the kitchen can be replaced by a butane burner and an air fryer.

Thank you so much for reading this Instructable. It was my first, and I hope it wasn't too bad. Whether or not you are planning to live in a frigid climate, I hope you found this set of instructions enjoyable.