George Bernard Shaw’s Spinning Shed
Alex at Shedworking.co.uk recently shared a link to an article by Greg Denisiuk that explains why George Bernard Shaw built a spinning shed. I’d actually never given much thought to the reasons why Shaw built his writing hut on a big lazy susan, but Greg did a very nice job of explaining the backstory.
It turns out that the main purpose of Shaw’s lazy susan was to follow the sun. In the winter Shaw would get up from time to time and turn his hut toward the sun. This reduced the need for artificial lighting kept the place warm. In the summer he’d do just the opposite and keep the hut turned away from the sun to keep it cool. In other words Shaw’s spinning writing hut was a clever passive solar shed that only required the occasional turn toward (or away) from the sun.
Now try that with a McMansion 🙂
Be sure to visit Greg’s blog for the complete story on George Bernard Shaw’s spinning shed.
That is so interesting. What an idea. Funny about a spinning McMansion.
Awesome! This would be especially good for a shelter that had no heat source or cooling method available.
Also handy if you happened to have views in more than one direction (I should be so lucky!), also can be used to indicate if you’re up for company (facing the house) or anti-social (away from the house).
Not quite right about the McMansion, Michael.
Rolf Disch’s Heliotrop house, which is built for himself in 1995 is in fact, a McMansion on a lazy susan specifically for the purpose of passive solar heating.
It goes further and the balcony rails are solar thermal collectors. PV panels on the roof turn independently towards the sun to maximize power production.
It’s a fascinating concept and design, but definitely not a tiny house.
See http://www.rolfdisch.de/index.php?p=home&pid=78&L=1&host=2#a566
http://www.solaleya.com/
Turnable dome houses.
What an outside the box thinker!