Steve Baer

2025-03-27T22:16:08Z

2603:300B:746:9200:493D:172C:4D70:ECA4:

{{short description|American architect (1938–2024)}}
{{for|the Chicago investor and activist|Steve Baer (political activist)}}
[[File:STEVE BAER, FOUNDER AND OPERATOR OF ZOMEWORKS, INC., OF ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, ONE OF THE PIONEERS IN SOLAR ENERGY... - NARA - 555297.jpg|thumb|Steve Baer, founder and operator of Zomeworks, Inc., of Albuquerque, New Mexico, (1974)]]
'''Steve Baer''' (October 13, 1938 – May 17, 2024) was an American inventor and pioneer of [[passive solar]] technology.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nU8IDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA305 |title = Groovy Science: Knowledge, Innovation, and American Counterculture|isbn = 9780226373072|last1 = Kaiser|first1 = David|last2 = Patrick Mccray|first2 = W.|date = 2016-05-31| publisher=University of Chicago Press }}</ref> Baer pioneered and helped popularize the use of [[zome]]s. He took a number of solar power patents, wrote a number of books and publicized his work. Baer served on the board of directors of the U.S. Section of the International [[Solar Energy]] Society, and on the board of the New Mexico Solar Energy Association. He was the founder, chairman of the board, president, and director of research at Zomeworks Corporation.<ref name="Zome About"/> He was the creator of [[Zome (architecture)|Zome Architecture]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/zome-primer |title=Zome Primer |language=English}}</ref> as well as one of the creators of [[Zometool]], a construction set educational toy or device that had evolved from playground climbers and other structures that had been created by Zomeworks.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About us |url=https://www.zometool.com/about-us/ |access-date=2024-02-09 |website=www.zometool.com}}</ref>

==Early life==
[[File:STEVE BAER IN A HIGHLY EFFICIENT GREENHOUSE HE BUILT FOR A SCHOOL IN ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO. BLACK PANELS CONTAIN... - NARA - 555300.jpg|thumb|Baer inside a highly efficient greenhouse he built for a school in Albuquerque, NM (1974)]]
Steve Baer was born in [[Los Angeles]]. In his teens while a student at [[Midland School, Los Olivos, California|Midland School]], he read [[Lewis Mumford]] and decided technology needn’t necessarily degrade or complicate people's lives. In the latter 1950s, Baer worked at various jobs and attended [[Amherst College]] and [[UCLA]]. In 1960, he joined the [[U.S. Army]], being stationed in Germany for three years. He also was married in 1960. After discharge from the Army, he and his wife, Holly settled in [[Zurich, Switzerland]], where he worked as a [[welder]] and attended [[ETH Zurich|Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule]], studying mathematics. Here he became interested in the possibilities of building innovative structures using polyhedra (non-rectangular [[polyhedron]]s).

Baer and his wife moved back to the United States, settling in [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]], where Baer initially worked as a welder of trailer frames for the [[Fruehauf Trailer Corporation|Fruehauf Trailer Services]] company. He founded the company Zomeworks with Barry Hickman and Ed Heinz.

Baer died on May 17, 2024, at the age of 85.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jones |first=Jesse |date=2024-06-14 |title=Visionary Corrales Architect and Inventor Dies at 85 |url=https://corralescomment.com/2024/06/14/visionary-corrales-architect-and-inventor-dies-at-85/ |access-date=2024-10-27 |website=The Corrales Comment |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Zomes==
Baer and Ed Heinz experimented with constructing buildings of unusual geometries that they came to call "zomes" or [[Zome (architecture)|Zome Architecture]], often using heavy sheet metal as the main exterior material. Some of the earliest experiments were carried out in cooperation with members of the [[intentional community|intentional communities]] [[Drop City]] and Maniera Nueva.

Baer had also become interested in using [[solar energy]] for direct heating of buildings, inspired by reading [[Farrington Daniels]]' ''Direct Use of the Sun’s Energy''. He began to experiment with practical methods, always seeking to simplify his approach as the experiments proceeded. Steve Baer was a key organizer of an important grassroots Western-American conference, Alloy, focusing on these matters. Because the conference was spotlighted in the ''[[Whole Earth Catalog]]'', Baer and Zomeworks became better known among solar enthusiasts in the U.S. Baer also was known as the author of ''Dome Cookbook'' and ''Zome Primer''.<ref name="WholeEarth1968"/>

In the early years at Zomeworks, Baer was able to work with other innovators and idea people, such as the solar designers Day Chahroudi, Dave Harrison, and Dick Henry. In 1975, Zomeworks published an illustrated book, ''Sunspots'', written by Baer and illustrated by [[Criss-Cross (art cooperative)|Criss-Cross]]; focusing on solar-design principles.

One of Zomeworks' inventions was the now-expired patented [[Earth sheltering|Beadwall]], which consists of two sheets of glass with small [[styrofoam]] beads blown in the space between them by an air pump at night to insulate the window areas of the building (the beads being removed by vacuum action in the morning). The design is somewhat similar to the [[drum wall]].

Baer’s approach has been to develop strategies and products that simplify rather than complicate; things that add to, rather than detract from, the self-sufficiency of a building and its occupants. The "Track Rack" [[solar tracker]] which Baer and Zomeworks staff developed is a metal-framed passive-solar dynamic mounting for [[photovoltaic]] (PV) modules. With an arrangement of two cylinders filled with freon and connected by a tube at their lowest point, the device uses the differential pressure and movement of entrapped liquid to enable gravity to turn the rack and follow the sun. Depending on heat and hydraulics, and without motors, gears, or computerized controls, the rack enables the PV module to face the sun ("sunflower-wise") for maximum efficiency. To fit into the developing solar energy industry, Zomeworks has designed and builds several Track Racks to fit all common photovoltaic modules.

Another invention, the Skylid uses the same configuration of freon-filled cylinders to open and close insulating louvers under a skylight .

Besides designing, testing, and fabricating solar-energy equipment, Baer and his company have provided consulting services to architects. Baer's design work was included in the Contemporary Developments in Design Science exhibit at St. John the Divine Cathedral, New York City, in 1995.

Baer's unconventional "zome" building-design approach, with its multi-faceted geometric lines, has been taken up by French builders in the [[Pyrenees]]. A 2004 book, ''Home Work'' edited by [[Lloyd Kahn]], has a section featuring these buildings.

While Zomeworks has been known mainly for exploring [[passive solar]] strategies and equipment, some of the equipment the company has developed more recently, for solar-driven space cooling, has used active-solar principles.

[[File:Dome cookbook.jpg|thumb|Dome Cookbook front cover]]

==Books==
* {{Citation |last= Baer |first= Steve |title= Dome Cookbook |year=1968 |location=Albuquerque, NM |publisher=Lama Foundation }}
* {{Citation |last= Baer |first= Steve |title= Zome Primer |year=1970 |location=Albuquerque, NM |publisher=Zomeworks Corporation }}
* {{Citation |last= Baer |first= Steve |title= Sunspots: Collected facts and solar fiction |year=1977 |location=Albuquerque, NM |publisher=Zomeworks Corporation }}
* {{Citation |last= Baer |first=Steve |title= Corrales Residence |year=1977 |journal=Passive Solar Heating and Cooling: Conference and Workshop Proceedings, May 18–19, 1976, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico |location=Washington, D. C. |publisher=Energy Research and Development Administration |page= 200 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015009264428 |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015009264428?urlappend=%3Bseq=212 }}
* {{Citation |last= Baer |first=Steve |title= Movable Insulation |year=1977 |journal=Passive Solar Heating and Cooling: Conference and Workshop Proceedings, May 18–19, 1976, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico |location=Washington, D. C. |publisher=Energy Research and Development Administration |url= https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015009264428?urlappend=%3Bseq=80 |pages=70–72 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015009264428?urlappend=%3Bseq=80 }}
* {{Citation |last= Baer |first= Steve |title= Sunspots: An Exploration of Solar Energy Through Fact and Fiction |year=1979 |location=Albuquerque, NM |publisher=Rodale Press }}
* {{Citation |last= Baer |first= Steve |title= More Sunspots |year=2012 |location=Corrales, NM |publisher= Baer Books }}

== Awards ==

* 2010 [[Global Award for Sustainable Architecture]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Global Award for Sustainable Architecture|url=http://www.citedelarchitecture.fr/en/article/global-award-sustainable-architecture|access-date=2020-06-03|website=Cité de l'architecture & du patrimoine|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Contal|first1=Marie-Hélène|title=Sustainable design II, Towards a new ethics for architecture and the city|last2=Revedin|first2=Jana|publisher=Actes Sud|year=2011|isbn=978-2-330-00085-1}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="Zome About">{{Citation |url= http://www.zometool.com/about-us/ |title= About Us |publisher=Zometool |archivedate=April 6, 2014 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20140406003934/http://www.zometool.com/about-us/ |year=2014 }}</ref>

<ref name="WholeEarth1968">{{Citation |magazine=Whole Earth Catalog 1968 |issue=1010 |date=Fall 1968 |editor-first=Stewart |editor-last=Brand |title=Dome Cookbook, Introduction to Engineering |pages=16, 22, 31, 65 |url= http://media-study.com/resources/pdfs/wholeearth.pdf }}</ref>

}}

==References==
*{{cite book |last=Denzer |first=Anthony |title=The Solar House: Pioneering Sustainable Design |publisher = Rizzoli |date=2013 |url= http://solarhousehistory.com/book/ |isbn=978-0847840052 |url-status=dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20130726200811/http://solarhousehistory.com/book/ |archivedate = 2013-07-26 }}
*{{cite web | title = The Clothesline Paradoxes |first= Anthony |last= Denzer |date= March 14, 2013 | website = solarhousehistory.com | url = http://solarhousehistory.com/blog/2013/3/14/the-clothesline-paradoxes}}
*{{Citation |title=Groovy Science: Knowledge, Innovation, and American Counterculture |editor1-first=David |editor1-last=Kaiser |editor2-first= W. Patrick |editor2-last=McCray |publisher=University of Chicago Press |date=May 31, 2016 |chapter= Alloyed: Counterculture Cricoleurs and the Design Science Revival |first=Andrew |last=Kirk |pages=305–390 |isbn=9780226373072 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nU8IDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA305 }}
*{{Citation |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=uQAAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA76 |title=Solar heat with perks |first=Marnie |last=McPhee |magazine= [[Popular Science]] |volume=235 |issue=1 |date=July 1989 |pages=76– }}
* [https://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-living/nature-and-environment/steve-baer-holly-baer-dome-home-zmaz73jazraw/ "The Plowboy Interview: Steve and Holly Baer"], in ''The Mother Earth News'', issue # 22 - July/August 1973

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*{{cite web | title = Steve Baer Resources | website = solarhousehistory.com | date = 27 September 2023 | url = http://solarhousehistory.com/resources/#Steve-Baer }}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baer, Steve}}
[[Category:20th-century American architects]]
[[Category:American inventors]]
[[Category:Modernist architects from the United States]]
[[Category:20th-century American mathematicians]]
[[Category:21st-century American mathematicians]]
[[Category:Solar building designers]]
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:Amherst College alumni]]
[[Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni]]
[[Category:2024 deaths]]

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Steve Baer