European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 15, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse                                William Keck and solar Home of 1940. By Michael Decourcy Hinds new York times ack in 1940, 5,000 people paid a dime to Sec inc House in Glen View iii., and thai was when a dime was Worth something said William Keck standing inside America s first solar heated Home which his architectural firm built in that suburb of Chicago. Visitors interested in futuristic design got their dime s Worth As the architects had built a contemporary House using solar Energy principles that de signers have Only recently begun to investigate. There s nothing new under the Sun said Keck adding that recent research shows that solar Energy was commonly tapped As far  As 3soo b.c., when the chinese oriented entire villages to the Sun. Solar architecture thrived when fuel shortages forced people to be inventive bit in modern times of plenty the concepts were forgotten. What then if not an Energy crisis prompted the firm of Keck & Keck consisting of William Keck and his older brother and partner George Fred Keck to design More than 300 solar heated houses at a time when Fossil fueld were inexpensive and apparently inexhaustible we were raised in a German family that did t waste  said William Keck who is 72 years old. Now that conservation has become vital the Kecks Are receiving honorary awards for their solar designs and a museum the Elvehjem museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin in Madison recently mounted a major retrospective exhibition of their work. George Fred Keck now 84 years old first got the notion to harness solar Energey in 1933 when work men were building his House of tomorrow for the Chicago world s fair. On a cold sunny Day he visited the House which looked something like an Airport Tower com pm Etc with a hangar for a Small plane to Check the Progress of the Interior construction. Even though it was below Zero outside and there was no heating inside the workmen had stripped to their shirt sleeves because so much heat had accumulated in the Glass House. Fascinated by the prospects of free heat Keck began studying solar Energy. But absolutely no information about solar Energy could be found at that time so the Kecks did some experiments at the University of Chicago and decided it would be feasible to design houses partially heated by the Sun. People thought we were crazy when we built this House said William Keck referring to the firm s first solar House now owned by Michael and Stephanie Rapp. In 1949, bus Ness week called it the newest threat the Domestic fuels but that was hyperbole As the Kecks believed their solar designs would reduce fuel Bills Only by 15 to 20 percent. The House was such a Success that it stimulated the Sale of Keek designed prefabricated solar houses and the construction of two Small housing developments including solar Park the first solar Community in the United states. Other than the weeks solar houses however popular interest in Energy conserving designs lasted Only while fuel was being rationed in the Early 1940s. The postwar housing Boom occurred when fuel was incredibly cheap and the country filled up with Energy hungry houses. Solar Energy s fall from fashion did t bother in Keck Brothers oho continued to refine their ular designs. Froe Hoat Pion oors around the time the first solar House was built they were also designing houses with exterior venetian blinds to Shade the Sun houses with rooftop water Ponds to provide Cooling by evaporation and partially under ground houses. Besides being innovative from an engineering stand Point the Keck houses were also strikingly modern and functional looking with the simple lines of a be Corbu sier machine for  i Don t know How much we save on fuel said Ste Phanie Rapp whose parents bought the weeks first solar House in 1945, and who now lives in the House with her husband Michael Rapp a Bookstore owner and their two Small children. But i know that the Furnace never goes on the the Sun is shining. It can get so Hout during the Day that you forget How cold it is outside until you open a window or a door to Cool the place  in later designs the Kecks used masonry floors that absorb excess solar heat during the Day and release it at night the solar design is simplicity itself. Solar heat streams through the nearly All Glass Southern Wall but does t escape through the nearly solid North Wall nor through the windowless East and West Walls surprisingly for a solar House anyway the solid Walls Are Only minimally insulated. It just did t pay to use More than three and a half inches of insulation in those Days said Kecks whose firm s policy was to use innovative designs that did t greatly increase construction costs. An additional but As yet unused solar heat source is a Large screened in solarium reached by French doors from the dining room. By installing storm windows the solarium would act like a solar Furnace during the Day said Keck. But so far heating costs for the House Haven t been High enough to interest the rapps in having custom win Dows made. As it is the solarium with its rakish by up lifted roof is the building s most interesting architectural detail and an outdoor Haven from the bugs in summer said mrs. Rapp. The Only other solar feature is the main roof which ii a Cantil cred several feet off the South Wall and acts As a sunbonnet shielding windows from the High summer trap but not interfering with the Low Winter Sun. The Kecki experimented with permanent double glazed window in this first solar House but primarily used removable storm windows. Unfortunately these were abandoned when Energy was cheap and my father got tired of putting them up every year said mis. Rapp who relies on heavy curtains to reduce the nighttime heat loss. The Only time it gets Cool is at Sundown just before the Furnace starts up she said. Then we pull on  in order to distribute solar heat and Light evenly through out the House the architects arranged the rooms in a Long rectangle about 100 feet Long an 20 feet wide. The Eastern half of the House has a Large mahogany panelled living room dining room and Kitchen Ana the Western half has three bedrooms two studies and two bathrooms connected by a corridor along the North Wall. The House has had a big Impact on my life said Rapp. The House makes you very much War of Natue be cause there s no Barrier Between you and the outdoors she said referring to the Wall of Glass overlooking the landscaped backyard. We clock the weeks in the year by How far he Sun comes in said mrs. Rapp. Sometimes i think of it must be december be cause the Sun has moved Clear across the room to the fireplace i be become very much aware of the cyclical nature of the world and i m glad my children Are experiencing it  the Keck Brothers meanwhile Are still designing so Lar houses and making the Best possible use of what we  today that May include rooftop solar collectors but William Keck in t too Happy with these mechanical system. Too much Monkey  Page 10 the stars and stripes theta1 ? de �