Herb Greene’s Crazy 1960s Prairie Chicken House Was a Green Design Before its Time

We were happily surprised to find that in addition to being a totally eye-catching piece of iconic architecture<a href="http://www.herbgreene.org/GREENE%20IMAGES/Architecture/BUILT%20WORK/Prairie%20House/PRAIRIE%20HOUSE.html"> Herb Greene's crazy 1960s Prairie House</a> was an early example of conscious green design. We have featured several examples of pre-industrial age architecture that had no choice but to incorporate green thinking into their design, as well as everything that has been developed since the 1970s environmental movement, but Greene's personal home (dubbed the "Prairie Chicken House" by Look Magazine) was conceived a decade before green thinking even became popular. Everything that we now associate with smart architecture can be found in this, ahem, interesting house: <a href="http://inhabitat.com/beautiful-bahia-house-showcases-natural-materials-and-smart-design/">natural materials</a>, passive design, natural lighting and ventilation, energy efficiency, and careful site placement. Technology has come a long way since Herb Greene and Julius Shulman took these rather grainy photographs, but we thought our readers might enjoy a small glimpse at this design that came before its time.

We don't usually expect green architecture from the modernists

But Herb Greene's Prairie House design came before its time

It has a simple timber construction

And unfinished cedar shingles that give the home a feathered effect

An early example of passive design

The Prairie house gets its warmth and natural lighting from careful orientation

We're not so wild about the shag carpet, but it definitely is "warm!"

The home was also designed to resist fierce prairie winds

This is the first floor plan by Herb Greene

It is definitely a strange design

Dubbed the "Chicken Priairie House" by Look Magazine in the 1960s

But we think it's a super example

Of what good intention and nature-centric thinking can provide