In February 2006 Tom and Jane Pirelli built a wood frame house for a family in Ensenada, Mexico.  In the hot sun Tom nailed black roof shingles while thinking, "I'm building an oven."

In the meantime, Jane was working inside the plywood house which was rapidly heating in the hot Mexican sun.  She was thinking, "This is better than what they have, but they still have to use the outhouse in back."

They both did not like the bare concrete floor, no insulation, and the thousands of nails poking through the open truss ceiling.

They vowed to find a new way to build these homes.

A SERIES OF CIRCUMSTANCES CAN CHANGE LIVES FOREVER

On the bus ride back to San Diego, Tom drew out a sketch of a floor plan for the new type house he planned to develop.  Upon showing it to Jane she pointed out they might as well address the sanitary issues with a bathroom and sink.  Tom added these to the plan.  Later, a friend suggested using refrigeration panels.  It seemed that would work.

Not only did Tom want to design homes for the poorest of the poor in the world, but he wanted to make them economically feasible, as "green" as possible, and construction to be as easy as building with Lego's so a home could be built in one day.

After much work and planning, on August 14 2006 a partial house was built in a warehouse in Lake Forest, IL. 

On August 19, 2006 the first complete Arial Home was built on the Deerfield High School campus, Deerfield, IL, by their FIRST Robotics team.  It was build in one day.  Proof of concept complete.

On December 16 and 17, 2006, Tom and Jane took a group of 16 high school students, including daughters Danielle and Megan, and 11 adult mentors to build Arial Homes for two families in Ensenada, Mexico.  Made of light reflecting, insulated steel panels and metal roofs, vinyl floors, running water, indoor bathroom with shower, bright cheery colors, kitchen sink, lights, fans, and more.  These home were welcomed with an overwhelming response from the recipient families.