> 1) What would you change about your house if you could?  Or 
> more specifically, what would you change that is easier to do 
> at the start than it is to retrofit later?

Trench and bury earth tubes for "free" cooling. Not terribly hard before the
house is built, but quite difficult after.
http://techref.massmind.org/techref/other/spac.htm#Vent

Roof designed for passive heating and cooling. Retrofitting is very
expensive... I'm finding... Sadly...

> 2) Assuming unlimited "dreaming" budget, what would you build 
> into a custom designed house?

Integral PV panels as roofing material.

Cooling towers and ventilation chimneys to circulate air without fans
through the rooms and the earth tubes.
http://techref.massmind.org/techref/other/spac.htm

Rain catchments with massive cistern which can also provide thermal mass.
Perhaps on top of the earth tubes.

Zeolite adsorption refrigeration with a "root cellar" basement walk in cold
room.
http://techref.massmind.org/techref/other/solfrig.htm

Solar hot water. Trough parabolic collector. 
http://techref.massmind.org/images/member/jmn-efp-786/sun/verticalcollector.
gif

Integrated solar cooker in the kitchen.
http://techref.massmind.org/techref/other/solar/Scheffler.htm
http://www.auroville.org/society/solarkitchen.htm
Including a heat storage system
http://techref.massmind.org/techref/other/solar/storage.htm

A complete waste treatment system
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/earth/handouts/chippendale.htm

> 3) Any new or old homebuilding technology that I should 
> really look into?

Straw bale construction. Low cost, excellent insulation, easy to modify for
cables, plumbing, etc... in the future.

Post and beam if you have access to your own trees. Those houses have been
standing for hundreds of years. Have to respect that.

Or a combination of the two.

> 4) What would you do with 10 acres of land?

Trade part of it for labor in developing the rest. 

Try to create an edible landscape. One with natural and exotic plants mixed
together in many layers of  companion crops. Imagine a forest were every
plant is producing something edible, were natural selection decides what
grows best and where, but where un-natural selection has chosen only those
who produce a crop.
http://www.permaculture.co.uk/mag/Articles/Rainbow_Valley.html

Drill a well for my own water and a windmill to pump it.
http://techref.massmind.org/techref/other/wells.htm

Farm chickens in runs on hills, goats in paddocks on hill tops above the
chickens, and fish in ponds below the chickens. All brush and tree trimmings
go to the goats, who chew, trample and poop in them, then push them down to
the chickens who scratch for bugs, turn, and poop in them and finally push
them down to the pond where the water plants grow from the rich result and
feed the fish and bugs grow and feed the frogs. Water from the pond
irrigates the farm. No work, no smell, no disease.

> So for my first thoughts:
> 
> 1) I like home automation.  Would be cool to be able to 
> control electrical items using more than just a switch on the 
> wall.  Would be nice to have whole house sound, security...
> 
> 2) Theater, rooftop gazebo or sod roof, passive solar 
> heating, cooling.  Geothermal heating/cooling.  Skylights, 
> lots of natural light.
> 
> 3) Insulated concrete forms, steel frame construction, pole 
> construction, log home...
> 
> 4) Orchards, gardens, animals, wood/metal shop, English 
> gardens (hedge maze!), small landing strip (land is around 
> 1200' x 350'), wind & solar electricity...
> 
> Of course, I won't be able to implement much dreamy 
> stuff(time and money), but the more stuff I think about 
> before designing/building it, the better off I'll be in the long run.
> 
> This is brainstorming!  No negative stuff!  I really do want 
> to hear your wacky unobtanium ideas.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> -Adam
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