Solabode MkII Affordable & Modular Eco Homes
Solabode MkII Affordable Modular Passive Solar Eco Homes provide simple yet comfortable energy efficient home solutions that are designed to easily enable pre designed additions as your family and income grows.
These designs offer the possibility of affordable passive solar eco homes using a choice of either Gib or Plywood wall and ceiling linings fitting a 1.2m grid layout to reduced waste and labour costs. Each design allows for a fully insulated Maxraft concrete slab floor to be laid to provide thermal mass to store solar energy.
Note that orientation to north or near north with clear access to sunlight in winter is essential for comfort and energy efficiency. The modular nature of each plan allows a family to start small with a 2 BR plan, adding perhaps a Master BR suite as family and finances grow. (Note that even timber floor options can be built on soft or steep sites, utilising a suspended concrete slab floor in the main living areas only).
These modular designs are available in the standard floorplan layouts shown or modified to your requirements. Contact Mark for more details: mark@ecotect.co.nz.
ALL THESE PLANS AVAILABLE WITH FULL SET OF DRAWINGS AND SPECIFICATIONS FOR QUICK SALE NOW FOR JUST NZ$49.99 (were NZ$499.95) including GST.
Note: does not include site plans or drainage plans or consent application and may need revisions if your site wind zone is higher than original wind zone design. Find further details here.
Please note these plans and designs are subject to copyright, please do not share them with others. Years of work has gone into the development of these designs to bring low cost eco home solutions to the market. Why not take advantage of the low fee offer (which will provide you with all the specially developed construction details) to ensure you receive a safe and healthy, warm and comfortable, ecologically sustainable, affordable home. Thank you.
Somerville HouseAnother Solabode Mk2 with slightly longer dimension, same as the O’Dell house almost, in the same subdivision… these things are multiplying… This one in colourful colours to brighten up the neighbourhood. Done and dusted! 128.4m2 living area and 27.9m2 carport. |
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Payne HouseA modest 100m2 2 bedroom Solabode Mk2 with a flipped floor plan for the eastern access way and with a large single garage/workshop.
The main living spaces on this one are just 3.6m wide but compensated with a 13m length space with a 2.7m stud height and 2.4m high north glazing. This little Solabode starter home will outperform every other house in Carterton and beyond and for a very modest budget. Clad in simple Shadowclad ply and batten, an exposed concrete Maxraft floor throughout, 140mm exterior wall framing with R3.2 Terralana insulation and R4.9 Terralana in the ceiling. Low E double glazing to keep heat loss low through the windows. |
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Coxen HouseDir-an and Lindsay Coxen are building this wee Solabode on a very nice elevated site in Maraetotara in Hawkes Bay. The plan was set up for a future extension to the west side for when their family grows. At just under 92 sq.m this compact house has all the great features and comfort of a Solabode passive solar home, for a very reasonable price. |
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Mowat-Nokes HouseAllan and Jo-anne are building this adaptation of a 2 bedroom Mk2 Solabode on a lifestyle block at Waitara in North Taranaki.
The house features all the usual passive solar design aspects including a Maxraft exposed concrete floor and a modest adobe feature wall behind the log burner.
Completely off-grid and running on just a 2kW solar power system. Local timber weatherboards and corrugated steel cladding. |
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Strawbridge House This is a standard Solabode Mk2 - 2BR with a carport and garden shed for Tony and Leonie Strawbridge in central Levin. The 117m2 Solabode house sits nicely on slightly elevated site with excellent north aspect for solar gain in winter. It also provides eastern views to the Tararua's and several established native trees in the south quadrant provide for privacy and birdlife, providing this modest property with its own little environment. |
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Marsden House Retired couple Ray and Daphne Marsden were moving from Invercargill to Motueka to share an established Biodynamic orchard with their son and daughter in-law who had recently bought the property in Brooklyn near the Motueka river. A resource consent was in place for a secondary minor dwelling to be built provided it was under 94.5m2. |
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Stephens House
A client approached me to design her a very low cost home, but one without compromise on comfort and energy efficiency. The resultant design for the flat building site in Atamai eco village also had to be completely off grid as no services were provided except a single water tank. All costs including fees and infrastructure had to fit within the budget, probably the most challenging project in my career; but with the help of an estimating service we achieved the goal. |
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MacKenzie Bauer House
A young family in Rangiora approached me with interest in a simple passive solar home for their flat lifestyle block on the banks of the Cust River. They liked my modular Solabode Mk2 designs and after some plan adjustments to suit their requirements we finished with a 3 bedroom plus study with attached double garage and large workshop. The clients preferred a tall steep pitch roof style building with vertical board and batten cladding, the dual-pavilion nature of the building worked well with those choices. |
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Odell House
Christchurch refugees Geoff and Gill Odell purchased a flat lifestyle block in the Wairau Valley village near Blenheim, they liked the look of my simple 2 bedroom Solabode Mk2 design and made some modifications of their own to customise the plan. A simple lean-to carport was added with sheltered alcoves for firewood and a chest freezer etc. The modular Solabode Mk2 design is based on a 1.2m internal grid layout to minimise material waste and labour costs. |
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Osmond HouseIn Cambridge 2016, a client sought my help to develop a small in-fill subdivision of their existing property; I suggested the Solabode Mk2 3 bedroom home as ideal for the small north facing site provided that a single width garage was adopted due to site restraints. This was the first of the Solabode Mk2 modular designs to be built after being originally designed a few years ago as a prefab solution. Conventional 140mm exterior wall framing was used along with lightweight timber I-joists for rafters for the sloping ceiling structure. |
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More Solabode MkII designs coming soon…
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