Our greenhouse designs are created by architect Michael Thompson, and informed by John Cruickshank’s innovative Subterranean Heating and Cooling Storage systems (SHCS), a hybrid active/passive solar climate control system.
Jerome Osentowski’s decades of organic practice in greenhouse cultivation, forest gardening, insect management and soil-building, gleaned from thirty years experience managing the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute, informs the design and development of beautiful, healthy and productive indoor ecosystems.
Our greenhouse design methods use industry standard greenhouse framing and cover systems, automatic ventilation, night insulation and irrigation systems, as well as our SHCS system. We enjoy projects of any scale, from small greenhouses attached to existing or newly designed homes to acres under glass.
Along with designer John Cruickshank, we have come to develop something we call a ‘Subterranean Heating and Cooling System’ (SHCS). This heating system consists of a thermostat, a small fan and an extensive infrastructure of perforated pipe that lines the greenhouse soil beds. The system’s thermostat is set to about 20 degrees warmer than the soil temperature so that once the greenhouse air temperature reaches the trigger point, the fan kicks on, cycling the heated greenhouse air through the pipe network within the soil beds. The soil serves as a enormous source of thermal mass, capturing the greenhouse air’s heat and moisture. This action helps to maintain cooler indoor daytime temperatures within when overheating is often the primary concern. At the same time, a second thermostat controls the same fan in the evening as temperatures drop, re-cycling the stored soil heat throughout the greenhouse, helping maintain warmer overnight temperatures. This simple, efficient system can dramatically augment the efficiency of your greenhouse during the dead of winter, minimizing or even eliminating the use of backup heat sources.
