Karen Terry is a Santa Fe–based builder and contractor, best known for her own 1974 passive solar house in Santa Fe — the second passive solar house built in New Mexico and, by the late 1970s, one of the most widely publicized homes in the state. She is a longtime associate of Bruce W. Davis and connected to the Solar Fools circle through that work, but is not herself a Solar Fools member.
Terry set out simply to build a house on land her mother had given her, and ended up commissioning a landmark. Referred by New Mexico architect William Lumpkins (the "grandfather of solar" in his region), she worked with architect David Wright, who adapted a variation of his own house around her ideas. She built it herself with one hired helper (Tom Brady) over nine months, financing the work with money earned fishing in Alaska. The house brought her international attention and a stream of visitors. A 1977 SolarVision documentary, Architecture, Building and the Sun: The Karen Terry House, covers its planning and construction. Full detail is in The Karen Terry House.
A one-time Denverite, Terry studied art at the University of Denver, worked in the early days of Crested Butte Ltd., and worked for Merrill Hastings on Skiing magazine before moving to New Mexico. She later ran her own construction company, taking only jobs that "make sense to her."
With architect Bruce W. Davis she co-designed the Sol-Mod, a small modular passive-solar house that used a vertical water wall as a Trombe wall for primary heating (see Bruce W. Davis § The Sol-Mod house). She is also named in the Baer House preservation guide as the recommended warm-introduction path to the Baer estate — the person best positioned to facilitate contact with Jose Baer and interested preservation organizations.