Pensmore serving as lab until completion

Last edited 3:21 p.m., April 21, 2015

Though he says it may never truly be finished, the owner of the sprawling Chateau Pensmore visible along U.S. Highway 65 has an end date in mind for his family to move in, as well as to house the headquarters of his Pensmore Foundation.

Speaking before a crowd of around 150 at Hilton Garden Inn this morning for Springfield Business Journal’s 12 People You Need to Know live interview series, Huff said the 72,000-square-foot structure is about 18 months away from livability for his family. Until then - and moving forward - the former CIA counterintelligence agent is utilizing the nearly $10 million facility as a research laboratory for the building’s specialized designs and systems.

Built to withstand EF5-level winds, the structure also is a model of energy efficiency. Utilizing Green Bay, Wis.-based TF Forming Systems’ patented insulated concrete forms, it can perform as much as 90 percent more efficiently than standard buildings.

That’s a central tenet of the project for Huff, a TF investor who pointed to studies indicating 40 percent of energy consumption in the U.S. comes from buildings, and about 40 percent of that is used to heat and cool structures.

“I would have thought it was planes, trains and automobiles,” he said. “If you can affect that number in a substantial way, you could lower the energy demands in the country by a considerable amount. That’s important to us: It saves money, it saves natural resources for the future.

“It’s basically goodness all the way around.”

The Ozarks, he said, serves as an efficient testing site for the structural soundness and energy-efficient nature of the home. Heavy winds are a known danger, and the four-season climate is ideal for testing the project.

“A lot of what we’re trying to do is establish the energy savings envelope. We wanted a summer, and we wanted a winter,” Huff said. “If we were in Siberia, we wouldn’t be able to test the performance in summertime. For Florida, we wouldn’t have much … data for the winters.”

This winter, Huff said the main house dipped as low as 46 degrees Fahrenheit with no heat on. However, he said the insulated walls and concrete floors simply would not allow the home to reach below freezing.

As for incorporating the chateau’s specialized designs and systems into standard residences and commercial structures, Huff said people can expect to pay 7 to 10 percent more up front.

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Pensmore’s guest house also serves as a temporary home for visiting scholars and writers. Huff also hosted speakers for a March faith and science conference at  Evangel University, and he plans to present the home to guests of College of the Ozarks during a Sept. 24-25 conference dubbed, “The Pensmore Dialogue on Science and Faith.”

“Sometimes the middle of nowhere is a good place to be,” Huff said of visitors staying in the home south of Ozark and north of Busiek State Forest. “A lot of them are coming from congested urban areas, and they find it very peaceful and relaxing to reconnect with nature and be able to do their work.”

During this morning’s event, Huff also addressed conspiracy theories surrounding the Christian County residence. For instance, he said Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have never stayed at the home, the residence does not store aliens and tunnels certainly do not exist between Pensmore and the western states.

“Where would we put the dirt?” Huff said with a laugh, noting there’s also no tunnel between the structure and Springfield Underground.

He also jokingly addressed claims the mansion serves as headquarters for the Illuminati secret service.

“Yeah, I'm Grand Poobah of the Illuminati. For $100, I'll teach you the secret handshake,” he said.

When asked about symbols, such as the Eye of Providence and the alpha and omega, dotting the home’s roofline, Huff said they are significant to him as traditional Christian icons. Another, the Pi symbol, he said is the Greek letter P to represent Pensmore and the mathematical concept that “runs all the way through physical law.” A tree symbol represents the Liberty Tree, a famous elm in Washington, D.C. At Pensmore, a tree is planted from one of 13 seeds recovered from the original, Huff said.