The Sun-Inspired™ House

House Designs Warmed and Brightened by the Sun

Debra Rucker Coleman

A Sun-Inspired house is:

• Sunny, open, and creative
• Warm in winter and cool in summer
• Integral to green & sustainable design principles
• Complementary to active solar & zero-energy
• Fuel-efficient and practical, yet elegant
• Healthy and environmentally-friendly
• A comfortable place to call home

The Sun-Inspired House illustrates numerous house design concepts related to the sun. It also addresses the related subjects of passive solar, passive cooling, energy- efficient construction, green building, and sustainability. Over 50 house plans show examples of integrated concepts. Numerous examples, photos, and testimonials from homeowners describe the livability of these sunny and comfortable houses built in North America.

About the Author

Debra Rucker Coleman, Architect and founder of Sun Plans Inc. has been designing passive solar homes since 1985. She received her Bachelor of Architecture Degree from the University of Arizona and became a licensed architect in 1984 after an internship in architecture and construction. In 2002 she received the “Best Practice” Sustainability Award for Residential Buildings from the Sustainable Building Industries Council. Her houses have been on the National Tour of Solar Homes. Fine Homebuilding, Solar Today, Mother Earth News, Home Power, Home Energy, numerous other publications, radio shows, and web sites have reviewed or published her work.

Debra has lived in many climate zones including the Southwestern and Eastern U.S., Switzerland, the Mediterranean, and the Caribbean. She has researched energy requirements for other climates in the United States and Canada. She currently lives in Alabama in a sun-tempered home that she constructed with her family.

I am completely and totally in love. You’re a brilliant architect. The house not only works incredibly well as a passive solar marvel, but the layout is so right for our family! The contractors come by now with their mouths wide open and confess to me that they never thought it would work. They not only can’t believe how beautiful it looks, but they can’t believe we don’t have to use the heat! It is so warm . . . and so light.

—Amy, homeowner