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Marie Granmarová a Charles Sakillotto literally live in a bubble, isolated from the cold and harshness of the elements, yet they get the best that nature can offer!
House with a greenhouse
Their house was built inside a greenhouse, which provided them with free heat and food in winter. In Stockholm, Sweden, where winter lasts 9 months of the year, that’s a huge plus.
The average temperature in Stockholm in January is below zero. However, if you step outside their front door, you’ll feel much warmer.
“For example, at the end of January it may be -2 on the street, while we have around +20 degrees in here,” they say.
Heating
According to Marie, the average family in Stockholm turns on the heating sometime in mid-September and doesn’t turn it off until mid-May.
The greenhouse allows them to reduce the number of months needed to heat the house from 9 to 6 months a year and decreases the amount of energy they consume for that purpose. Any extra heat they don’t get from the sun is provided by a wood stove.
Marie says she is more or less immune to the cold. Whether it rains or snows, she can sit on the balcony or on the roof terrace and watch the stars.
During the hottest summer days, the glass roof automatically opens when it reaches a certain temperature so the rooms don’t overheat unnecessarily.
The family’s favorite retreat is the roof, or terrace
Since they built a glass ceiling, they no longer need a roof, so they removed it to create a large space for soaking up the sun, reading, gardening, or playing with their son.
Plants
There is enough space for a garden in the greenhouse.
And because they created a Mediterranean climate, they grow crops that are not normally grown in Sweden – figs, grapes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs. Behind the glass they even have a cherry tree and an apple tree.
“Growing food here is not easy at all,” says Marie, “We need all the energy we have.”
Irrigation and water
Besides free heat, they also managed to create a rainwater collection system, which they connected to the toilets and which provides their plants with free fertilizer.
In addition, the plants that grow in the house clean the air and provide more oxygen.
In the future the couple are trying to create a system to collect excess solar energy in summer and store it for winter.
“If you want to be self-sufficient and independent from larger systems, you can work on your comfort and live anywhere,” said Marie.
“This is a philosophy of life – to use nature, the sun and water to live in another world,” said Charles.
Charles and Marie were not the first to build a house in a greenhouse. They were inspired by the idea of Swedish architect Bengt Varn, who in Stockholm in 1974 built the first Naturhus (nature house).
Several such nature houses have already been built.
