Home Alive: The Home that Thinks, Drinks and Breathes.
Harvest Homes founder, Ben Polley, designed and oversaw construction of this model home to demonstrate how to intelligently address today’s housing and ecological challenges in northern climates.
The roof systems collect potable water and solar power. A wind generator provides additional electricity. The home is fully automated to help improve its energy efficiency. The walls breathe, naturally. And the whole structure contains almost no toxic materials. It’s all about intelligent, sustainable and healthy living.
Home Alive! was first built in a Guelph warehouse over 9 1/2 weeks in 2003 with enthusiastic energy by dozens of volunteers. The straw bale wall structure itself was built in prefabricated modular panels, a first for North America. The significantly completed house was then moved and reassembled as a Feature Model Home at the 2003 National Home Show in Toronto. Tens of thousands of visitors were welcomed through its doors. And it inspired a wonderfully positive reaction and was covered extensively by regional and national press.
Moved once more, Home Alive! is now a permanent, inhabited showcase at Everdale Environmental Learning Centre in Hillsburgh, Ontario (between Toronto and Guelph).
