Man to build experimental natural home

By PETER HANCOCK

Lawrence Journal-World

LAWRENCE --- On a small piece of farmland northeast of Lawrence, Brooks Herndon hopes to build an experimental home that will answer a nagging question: Is it possible to live on an organic farm that produces all of one's own food, water and energy, while still enjoying all the creature comforts of modern city life?

"What it's intended to do is provide a real, available, practical solution to these things," Herndon said.

If the plan he calls the "Fora Project" is a success, he says, not only would such a home be possible, it also could be replicated like any other off-the-shelf home design at a cost that would rival typical new homes in suburban subdivisions.

Herndon, 53, a self-employed designer and consultant who divides his time between Lawrence and Kansas City, said he got the idea working as a Peace Corps volunteer in the late 1960s in South America.

As part of an effort to stem cocaine production by finding alternative crops for farmers to grow, Herndon said, he was involved in setting up coffee production and marketing cooperatives deep in the Bolivian countryside.

"As part of that, we ended up building and designing structures with water purification systems and so on," he said. "In that isolated environment, it was an important thing for me to think about all the ways to make a 20th century building and at the same time be able to live independently."

While the effort to stem the cocaine trade in Bolivia obviously didn't work, Herndon said, the idea of building homes that could sustain themselves with the water and energy resources around them stuck with him.

The Fora Project --- "fora" being plural for the word "forum," or open discussion --- is a cooperative venture between Herndon and a group of partners from Johnson County and southern California.

The plan calls for a three-level, 5,600-square-foot building in the shape of a hexagon. The shape would make the maximum use of sunlight, wind and rain.

The building will use both solar and wind energy for heating, cooling and basic electricity.

Sunlight can be used both for heating and maintaining a greenhouse garden inside, while rainwater can be collected and stored indoors in a tank that can serve as an indoor swimming pool or spa and a domestic water supply.

Having a large body of water indoors also helps moderate the temperature of the home, Herndon said.

The most prominent feature visible from the outside will be a Darrius Rotor wind turbine on top of the building. The turbine, with thin blades on a vertical axis, can be used as both an electric generator and air compressor.

The compressed air would run the heating and cooling system, while the generator would supplement photo-voltaic cells or alcohol- powered fuel cells for electricity.

Herndon said he could build the home for less than $200,000, which is comparable to the cost of many new homes in Douglas County.

Herndon said if the model home is successful, he would be able to market the design to an emerging class of potential homebuyers --- people like designers, consultants, writers and others who already live and work in their home and conduct business via the Internet.

The partnership is negotiating to buy about 43 acres straddling the Douglas-Leavenworth county line near the junction of K-32 and US- 24 highways.

Herndon said that after he acquires the land, the first Fora Project home could be completed within a year.

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