A Healthy, Modular home...What is it?
12X18 modular, insulated structures starting from $80 sq/ft. Other designs and sizes available. click here

Sanctuary Shelter's goal is to provide an eloquent and simple answer to the basic human need for shelter.

Our designs incorporate the use of all natural materials.

Like us, our structures breathe in fresh air. Their orientation is outwards…to the gardens, forest, earth and sky.

Sparse use of DC(direct current) electronics avoids electrical interference with earth’s magnetic pulse.

Built with untreated wood locally milled using eco-forestry-harvesting principles, Sanctuary Shelters step lightly wherever they are.

Our wood and solar heating doesn’t contribute to greenhouse gases.

We do not use any plywood or particle board in our structures, reducing the impact for people with allergies and multiple chemical sensitivities.


Most importantly, Sanctuary Shelters are a joy to the body and spirit.

Their understated eloquence and natural materials please the eye.
Their toxic-free, electrical field-free environment helps reduce stress.
Their small ecological footprint unburdens the mind.

Sanctuary Shelters building envelope is breathable wax coated kraft paper creating a "breathing wal.l" Sanctuary Shelters utilize
super heat and sound efficient nontoxic cellulose insulation (recycled newsprint) in the floors, walls and ceilings.

Sanctuary Shelters wood finishes are natural oils and bees wax.
Glass is double pane low emissity.

Roofing materials can include flexible solar collectors. Rainwater is captured and utilized in home and garden.


By building light weight modular units Sanctuary Shelters step lightly on the land with a minimal environmental footprint.
By joining and combining units shelters can be created to fit specific needs. Designs include octagons, squares and rectangles.
Through the use of short spans our shelters avoid the heavy structural requirements of traditional home construction.
Their modular design and immediate assembly and disassembly allows the building to be classified as temporary thereby avoiding many of the regulatory impediments to innovative construction and design.


Architect Matt Taylor elucidates some of the design assumptions that modular construction overcomes in his ecosphere concept.
http://www.matttaylor.com/public/ecosphere.htm
BREATHING WALLS
One approach to energy efficiency has been to seal houses uptight in a plastic vapour barrier. This approach is now mandated by the building code.

The difficulty from an environmental health point of view is that this becomes like living inside a closed plastic bag. Air is mechanically circulated and often the sick building syndrome results with the inadvertent build up of toxins, radon gases,….

Sanctuary Shelters has rejected this approach to energy efficiency. We use a breathable waxed craft paper envelope that exchanges air molecules across the membrane. The walls breath. More oxygen diffuses through the membrane than if the windows were wide open conserving energy while removing toxins and introducing oxygen from outside.

Information on Breathing Walls
http://oikos.com/library/breathing walls/
http://healbuildings.com/Indoor_Air_Pollution/indoor_air_pollution.html
Information on biological building Principles
http://www.buildingbiology.net/indoorclimate.html
RECYCLED CELLULOSE INSULATION


Made from your evening newspaper!

CELLULOSE INSULATION is NON-TOXIC

( Fiberglass insulation contains carcinogenic formaldehyde binders and glass particulates )

IDEAL FOR RETRO-FITS and NEW CONSTRUCTION


Cellulose Insulation offers several advantages for the breathing wall healthy home. It is made from non toxic materials (basically your evening newspaper) It is more efficient in sound and heat insulating than traditional fiberglass which is a known carcinogen. It doesn't’t contain the formaldehyde binders of fiberglass. It is much more effective at preventing air infiltration (denser) than fiberglass. Sanctuary Shelters has the blower and the experience in working with cellulose and their craft paper breathing wall system.
This is the link to our supplier Can Cell Industries.


Further insulation specs can be found at the Can-Cell website
ECO-LUMBER

The industrial model of forestry impacts negatively on water, soils, fish, and wildlife.

Sanctuary Shelters values wood as a healthy building material and seeks out sources of lumber that are salvaged or harvested in ways that are sensitive to the needs of sensitive biological forest and human communities.

Link:
Eco-forestry Institute
http://www.ecoforestry.ca
DESIGNS







The modular structures are designed in lightweight panels, bolted together at the site. A typical structure will measure from 318 Square feet to 400 square feet depending on the shape, octagonal, rectangular or square.

Each panel measures 3ft X 8ft and are either completely closed in wood, or with glass.

Structures are designed with full insulating capacity, or without, for seasonal use.

These modular designs can accommodate add-ons simply by adding and removing panels, creating larger spaces and rooms.

These sanctuaries are custom designed to suit your needs.


starting from $80 per sq/ft

Our unique design of sauna allows light to flow through our domed/arched skylight.


Starting from $5000, includes 6kW stainless steal sauna heater (does not include electrical wiring to main panel)




























THE BUILDER / DESIGNER
Phil began his building ventures while still an undergraduate studying Anthropology and History at the University of Toronto.

A friend who headed the U of T Media Studies Program commissioned Phil to build the world’s first 2 story home constructed using an innovative concept of styrofoam forms filled with concrete. http://www.korit.com/iceblock.htm

His Tolkienesque Middle Earth Construction Limited company went on to build everything from underground hobbit like structures to conventional frame homes using the then innovative R2000 Energy Efficiency Standard.

His carpentry experience includes building bridges, schools, recreation centers, and hotels as well as residential construction and renovation and his trades experience have included steel stud, masonry, plumbing, siding, and aluminum contracting.

Phil’s interest in environmental health was in part stimulated by the challenges of building for clients with multiple chemical sensitivities.

His ‘ Wildernest Organic Homes’ designs featured breathing walls, no toxic eco harvested solid wood construction. His early interest in social anthropology led to inspiration for incorporating the beauty, simplicity, and efficiency of traditional building methods from indigenous cultures to pioneer architecture into his ongoing design development.

Phil's other work experience has included communications as an independent video producer, http://www.screenweavers.com, as a Media Studies instructor at Malaspina University College, http://screenweavers.com/media211. In 2000, Phil put himself forward in the provincial election as a candidate for the Green Party http://screenweavers.com/greens/phil/
CONTACT US

Phil Carson

3822 Island Highway West,
Qualicum Beach, BC
Canada
V9K 2G9

1-250-752-4469
email

 
©2005 Sanctuary Shelters