Julian Dawson Gives Tour of

Bronzeville Hybrid House

Photo: Leila Khaled

(l-r) Julian Dawson, Daje Murphy, Dantrell Murphy

On February 12th, Julian Dawson hosted two young visitors from the Metropolis Street Team and explained the need and value of clean energy and energy conservation. Daje and Dantrell Murphy were amazed by Dawson’s Hybrid House and thought for sure it cost millions of dollars. In actuality, Dawson built one of the most energy efficient homes in America, complete with a 700 square foot organic garden, right in the heart of Bronzeville for $600,000.

The home is on 44th & Vincennes and Dawson has hosted many young people and visitors. He firmly believes that, “In the next ten years, it is very important to learn to reorganize our communities locally, including food production, because the current system cannot sustain itself; The probability of systemic collapse over that time frame is high.”

Dawson grew up on 61st & Indiana in a single-parent household. His mother was a school teacher at Willard elementary on 49th & Champlain and he attended Vincennes Upper Grade Center on 51st & Vincennes before graduating from Lindblom after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968. He remembers the 1968 race riot at Lindblom before he went off to University of Illinois in Champaign, “I was running the streets, breaking the law. I dropped out of college, joined the Army and was discharged early after working to organize a strike of all Black soldiers on the base at which we were stationed in Germany. The purpose of the strike was to resist the plagues of racism and White privilege within the fabric of the US military. Just as race riots occurred in civilian life, they occurred in military life as well.”

He returned to Chicago and enrolled in University of Illinois in Chicago where he earned a Bachelor of Architecture Degree, Structures major. He went on to Massachusetts Institute of Technology earning a Master of Science Degree in Civil Engineering.

Dawson designed his home and served as the architect , structural engineer, and site superintendent. The home is described as energy efficient and uses solar power to achieve clean energy from sunlight. “This house doesn’t require much energy from ComEd or People’s Gas. We produce 99% of the electricity and most of the hot water from sunlight. The house is super insulated so that we minimize heat loss; we product heat from sunlight using passive solar strategies. Back-up heating is provided by a geothermal ground source heat pump.”

The house also employs strategies on the interior to minimize indoor pollution and the toxic off-gassing associated with paints, carpeting, furniture, etc. “We used No VOC and low VOC paints, as well as water based wood stains, and no carpeting.”

Outside in the south yard is the 700 sq. ft. organic vegetable and fruit garden where about 25 food plants including tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, turnips, kale, onions, garlic, broccoli, beans, squash, dill, cilantro, strawberries, blueberries, etc. are grown each year. A root cellar was constructed behind the garage to store the root vegetables for use during the winter months.

Some the elements found in the Hybrid House can also be employed with existing homes. Older buildings can achieve a measure of energy conservation and clean energy generation as well. “Air seal and insulate older buildings to be sure heat isn’t leaking out. Without good insulation, heat transmits through walls and roofs.” In physics, a measure of thermal resistance is given as the R Value or the ratio of the temperature difference across an insulator or the ability of insulation to impede heat flow.

Dawson explains, “The higher the R Value, the better insulated the home. This house has a wall R Value of 40 and typical homes are 10. Most houses lose heat through the roof. Our roof has an R Value of 50 and most homes are 30. Most homes use $8 to $10 a day in energy while this one uses $1.65 a day. “The hyper-exploitation of fossil fuel energy over the last 250 years has created severe problems, including rampant pollution, ecological damage, climate change, unsustainable human population growth, and unsustainable resource use. 85% of America’s energy use is derived from fossil fuels, and we use 23% of all the fossil fuel energy produced in the world to satisfy the life styles of 4.5% of the world’s human population.”

Dawson showed the two boys architectural designs, the energy room, various books, and pictures of his adventures in skydiving. Among other questions, there was one the boys couldn’t wait to ask, “How many kids came here to trick or treat on Halloween?”

“None” replied Dawson.

“What? This would be the coolest house to come to!” said Daje. Metropolis

Comments (0)