Welcome to

Casa De La
Adobe

Science Fair 2021

Justin Bennett
12th grade student
Designing an ecofriendly house for today
Welcome to the Casa
With environmental impacts from a variety of human and natural caused events the need
for environmentally friendly housing is imperative. This presentation highlights a home
designed for the South West using environmentally friendly principles and materials, with
reduced environmental impacts.

While there are many designs available for green building, my design takes a much more
global approach by combining natural elements not usually found in modern building with
the use of renewable energies. Bringing all of these components in my design as a template
for new building suggestions and standards.
Casa De La Adobe
Engineering Goal and Design Criteria
Designing a home of today that brings together the environmental friendly aspects
of both less carbon impacts in construction and materials and long-term impacts to
our environment was the challenge that I presented myself.  I decided to use
uncommon, and in some cases, centuries old building materials, with modern day
technology.  As an example, the use of hay/straw in the natural adobe walls which
creates an insulated wall without the use of fiberglass or human-made materials. 
Likewise, using the age-old principle of wind-power, with a modern twist of higher
power generation wind turbine to power the structure
Methods
Simply put, I thought outside of the box, using new and old technologies, materials
and design.  The home places the garden area in a controlled basin (the roof) to
prevent any leaching of fertilizers or other gardening by products into the ground
water.  Simultaneously the roof, gutters and cistern capture natural rainwater to be
used for irrigating the plantings.  Traditional solar plan collect energy for solar
power of all components required 110v electrical current.  The placement of
windows takes advantage of natural sunlight to reduce energy dependence during
daytime hours.  Using the coolness of the ground I created ventilation shafts to
collect cool below ground air to filter in the house and push the warmer southwest
air up into the vaulted ceilings and out of the house.
Results
A house for today!  The result of my design was a home that had a reduced environmental
impact while creating comfort and livability.
Conclusion
• The design addresses:
o Insulation without the use of human produced fiberglass products,
harmful in production and destruction
o Cooling and moving of air within the house with zero environmental
impact using the value of subsurface cool air and harvesting the wind.
o Collection of naturally occurring water through roof, gutter and cistern
design to be used in non-potable applications.
o Control of water from gardening operations preventing contamination
of ground water.
o Use of solar power for electrical operations and natural lighting.
Wind Turbine
Solar Power
Cooling Towers
Water Reclamation System