raw · articles · ingested 2024-06-14
Visionary Corrales architect and inventor dies at 85 — Corrales Comment (2024)
Source: Steve Baer / Zomeworks archive
Corrales Comment, June 14, 2024
Source URL: https://corralescomment.com/2024/06/14/visionary-corrales-architect-and-inventor-dies-at-85/
Renowned architect and inventor Steve Baer, a pioneer in sustainable design and solar energy, passed away on May 17, 2024 at age 85. Born in 1938.
Biography
Attended UCLA and Amherst College before enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1960, serving in Germany. Later studied at Zurich Technical Institute (ETH Zurich) in Switzerland.
Baer’s own characterization of his education: “I never quite fit into that whole college thing.”
Timeline from the obituary:
- 1965 — relocated to Albuquerque, working as a surveyor and welder
- 1968 — moved to Corrales, beginning experiments with dome structures
- ~1970 — co-founded Zomeworks with Barry Hickman and Ed Heinz
Note: the Kayatekin (2025) paper places the founding “in the late 1960s.” The obituary says c.1970. The co-founders named here (Hickman and Heinz) are not mentioned in the Kayatekin paper.
Zomeworks and products
The company produced:
- Solar water heaters
- Playground climbers (used nationwide)
- Zomes — flexible geometric structures
Zometoy: The 31-zone truss system was marketed commercially as “Zometoy.” Scientists adopted it in the 1980s for demonstrating quasicrystals and symmetry principles. Nobel laureates continue using it. (The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011 went to Dan Shechtman for quasicrystal discovery; the Zometoy connection to this work is documented here.)
New Mexico Solar Energy Association
In 1972, Baer and business partner Peter van Dresser co-founded the New Mexico Solar Energy Association at Ghost Ranch with Keith Haggard, hosting the first “Life Technic” conference.
Publications
| Title | Year |
|---|---|
| Dome Cookbook | 1968 |
| Zome Primer | 1970 |
| Sunspots: Collected Facts and Solar Fiction | 1977 (obituary date; archive copy says June 1975 — possible later edition) |
| More Sunspots | 2012 |
Note: More Sunspots (2012) is not in the archive.
Patents
Named patents: osmotic heat pipes; cool cells for passive temperature regulation (US Patent 6,357,512 B1).
Awards
- 2010 Global Award for Sustainable Architecture
The house
A former neighbor: “When you walked into his house in the middle of summer, when it was 100 degrees outside, it was comfortable inside.”
Family
Survived by:
- Wife Holly Baer
- Son Steve [Note: user information indicates the estate executor is Jose Baer — possible that “Steve” in the obituary refers to the same person, or that additional family members are not listed]
- Grandchildren: Isaac and Sophia Baer
- Brother: William Baer
- Daughter Audrey (predeceased, died c.2018 from lung cancer); her children: Tess and Hannah Johnson
Source: Corrales Comment, June 14, 2024. Fetched from web. URL: https://corralescomment.com/2024/06/14/visionary-corrales-architect-and-inventor-dies-at-85/