The HelitropThe Helitrop

 Rolf Disch is the architect of the Helitrop.  His first building was finished in summer 1994 in Freiburg.  He and his wife live in it. Inventor  In 1994 the Hansgrohe AG built the next Helitrop in Offenburg  1995 the company built a third house in Bayern  1996 Rolf Disch got some high awards for his concept

Construction The house was built from wood, glass and other ecological materials The foundation is concrete The weight of this building is 100 tones It has a central wood column It`s 14 metres high

Solar There are 6 KW solar panels on the roof of the building They generate 9000 KWh a year 5 times as much as needed It swivels automatically to the sun (separately to the house)

Warm Water Vacuum tubes around the house The vacuum tubes are filled with water and are heated by the sun A heat exchanger generates hot air from the hot water Ceiling reflectors are heating the rooms The house can be heated completely in 7 min

The Two faces Of The House The backside with the small windows and the corrugated iron. The front with the big windows

Recycling This house recycles its waste itself in a big compost container in the ground The waste from the toilet or the kitchen falls down into the container In one year you get ONE bucket of garden mould There is just one bucket, because the most content of the BIO rubish is water and this is filtered out into the composter! WHY??

The Rotation Mechanism

This relatively small motor causes the rotation of the house The motor has only a little energy cunsumption (like an energy-efficient fridge ) The house is borne by 240 bowls

The Heliotrop is constructed to use any form of solar energy. The cylindrical shape of the building minimizes heat loss. Solares Building