SOLARGON DESIGNS by ICS

Solargon homes and cabins are inspired by design elements from Native American “hogons” and “hidatsa lodges” and Asian nomadic “yurts” and “ghers” or “gers” and combine them with passive solar design principles. Using the latest in green-building technologies we have created structures that work with and within the environment rather than dominating or disregarding it. Green-building is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings use resources: energy, water, and materials . . . while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and eventual removal — the complete building life cycle. A similar concept is natural building, which is usually on a smaller scale and tends to focus on the use of natural materials that are available locally. Solargon homes combine elements of both concepts.

Various models and sizes of Solargons are available: 

  ICS SIPs Solargon Model 30 yurt hogon cabin

Model 30 (699 square feet octagon), shown above, is available with 8′ or 10′ side walls.  The walls and roof are made with R-42 ICS SIPs.  The roof has four planes. 

ICS SIPs Solargon Model 20-08 yurt hogon cabin

Model 20 (311 square feet octagon), shown above, is available with 8′ or 10′ side walls.  The walls and roof are made with R-28 or R-42 ICS SIPs.  The roof can have eight planes or four planes. 

ICS SIPs Solargon Diamond Model cabin

Model D (the Solargon Diamond), shown above, is available in 20′ x 20′ (400 square feet) or 24′ x 24′ (576 square feet).  It has 9′ side walls.  The walls and roof are made with R-42 ICS SIPs.  The roof has two planes. 

ICS SIPs Solargon Quadra Model cabinICS SIPs Solargon Quadra Model cabinICS SIPs Solargon Quadra Model cabin

Model Q (the Solargon Quadra), shown above, is available in 20′ x 20′ (400 square feet) or 24′ x 24′ (576 square feet).  It has 9′ side walls.  The walls and roof are made with R-42 ICS SIPs.  The roof has four planes. 

Various configurations of Solargons are possible.  Use your imagination! 

ICS SIPs Solargons, many possible configurationsICS SIPs Twin Solargons with connector (model yurts, hogons, cabins, homes)

ICS SIPs Solargons can be mounted on a slab-on-grade,
over a crawl-space, over a basement, or on piers. 

ICS SIPs Solargon or yurt floor joists on piers

ICS SIPs insulated floors are availble for Solargons and yurts.
The floor can be R-28 or R-42. 

ICS SIPs insulated floor for Solargon or yurt, R-28 or R-42

Photo gallery:

Here are some customers’ photos:

ICS SIPs Solargon 20' model cabin yurt hogon

ICS SIPs Solargon 20' model interior tongue & groove T&G pine ceiling cabin yurt hogon ICS SIPs Solargon 20' model interior tongue & groove T&G pine ceiling cabin yurt hogon

ICS SIPs 30' Solargon Smart Cabin yurt hogon in Colorado

30′ Solargon on piers west of Loveland, Larimer County, Colorado

ICS SIPs Solargon in ColoradoICS SIPs Solargon in ColoradoICS SIPs Solargon in ColoradoICS SIPs Solargon in Colorado

ICS SIPs Solargon in ColoradoICS SIPs Solargon in ColoradoICS SIPs Solargon with sleeping loft in Colorado

ICS SIPs Solargon in ColoradoICS SIPs Solargon in ColoradoICS SIPs Solargon in Colorado

 ICS SIPs Solargon 20' model ski patrol hut cabin yurt hogon shack

Ski Patrol Hut at Powderhorn Ski Resort, Mesa County, Colorado

ICS SIPs Solargon 30' model with vestibule cultural energy research center cabin yurt hogonICS SIPs Solargon 30' with vestibule educational research cultural energy center yurt hogon cabin

                       

                                                       

Our open, octagonal designs allow convective airflow for more even distribution of passive solar-generated heat. Properly sized windows are placed at the southeast, south, and southwest walls. Passive solar designs can reduce demand for heat by 60%. These advanced building technologies represent one of the largest and most promising techniques to contribute significantly to low-impact living.

Our 30’ diameter building makes an ideal starter home, and can be attached or linked to additional 20’ (311 sq. ft.) or 30’ (699 sq. ft.) units. Your desired square-footage and arrangement can be tailor-made to fit a variety of needs with unlimited designs. Each unit is green-built, has an “extreme insulation” value, and is affordable, with less than half the heating requirements of conventional buildings. The pre-built wall and roof panels (SIPS) are assembled onsite in less than two days, ready for interior and exterior finishes. These panels surpass conventional framed buildings for R-values by a large margin. The wall panels are manufactured with electrical conduit embedded at customer-selected locations and are ready to run wiring after the building is erected. With the addition of appropriately sized solar panels and an optional solar radiant floor heating system, heating costs can be reduced to near zero.

Large houses generally use a tremendous amount of energy to heat and cool. This energy usually comes from the combustion of fossil fuels, depleting these resources and emitting greenhouse gases and pollutants into the air. The larger the house, the more materials go into its construction. The octagon shape of the Solargon uses 20% less wall materials to enclose the same floorspace than a square shape. Small can be beautiful and cozy. You can upgrade your lifestyle by reducing living costs and downsize your living space without losing a sense of openess and light.