Thermal Envelope Houses

An architectural design (also known as the double envelope house), sometimes called a "house-within-a-house," that employs a double envelope with a continuous airspace of at least 6 to 12 inches on the north wall, south wall, roof, and floor, achieved by building inner and outer walls, a crawl space or sub-basement below the floor, and a shallow attic space below the weather roof. The east and west walls are single, conventional walls. A buffer zone of solar-heated, circulating air warms the inner envelope of the house. The south-facing airspace may double as a sunspace or greenhouse.