Ken Haggard

Kenneth L. Haggard (b. 1935) is a passive solar architect and educator. He co-founded the New Mexico Solar Energy Association with Steve Baer and Peter Van Dresser at Ghost Ranch in 1972.

Education and academic career

BS in chemical engineering (Texas A&M), then a career change into architecture: BA in architecture with honors (North Carolina State University) and an MS in Urban Design (University of Pennsylvania). Taught at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo from 1967 to 1988; from 1972–1975 he was Principal Investigator on HUD-funded natural air-conditioning research — the Atascadero, California Skytherm/roof-pond project, listed as “Hay / Edminster / Haggard” in Baer’s 2009 AIA passive solar slideshow, and confirmed by a co-authored 1976 ASHRAE Transactions paper with Phil Niles and Harold Hay (“Nocturnal cooling and solar heating with water ponds and movable insulation”). He later founded and directed Cal Poly’s Renewable Energy Institute.

Practice

Met architect Polly Cooper at Cal Poly in 1975; the two founded a firm together in 1976, later known as the San Luis Sustainability Group. Licensed in California and Florida. Built works credited to him include the 1972–75 Prototype Roof Pond House, Congregation Beth David Synagogue, the SLO Botanic Garden Education Center, and (reportedly California’s first permitted straw-bale building) the Noland House in Lone Pine, CA.

Publications

Co-authored Passive Solar Architecture: Heating, Cooling, Ventilation, Daylighting and More Using Natural Flows with David Bainbridge, and the Passive Solar Architecture Pocket Reference with Bainbridge and Rachel Aljilani. Also wrote a Passive Solar Handbook for California, chapters in The Passive Solar Energy Book, and (with Polly Cooper) “Leading by design,” Solar Today, 2004.

Bainbridge’s own water-wall history credits Haggard and Polly Cooper as having likely “designed more water wall homes than anyone else in the world,” citing both their own retrofit/straw-bale home and 30+ years of practice.

Recognition

ASES Passive Solar Pioneer Award, 1996 (with Polly Cooper); 1st place, AIA/UIA International Competition on Sustainable Communities, 1993; Best Paper Award, World Solar Congress, 1989.

Quoted on Harold Hay in the Vindy Archives (2007): “He’s a caricature of the mad inventor. He’s a genius. But he’s also impossible. And he has not mellowed one iota.”

Uncertain / corrected

A prior version of this article stated Haggard co-founded a “Passive Solar Institute” — this was not corroborated by a 2026-07-19 research pass (including his Wikipedia article) and should be treated as unconfirmed pending a primary source. His current status (active/retired/deceased) as of 2026 is also unconfirmed — no obituary has been located, but that is not proof of anything either way.

Note: Previously listed as “Keith Haggard” in this wiki — corrected to Ken Haggard based on multiple confirming sources (Solar Fools wiki reading list, Vindy Archives, baer-aia-passive-solar-slideshow.md).