The
Undergreen House:
Architecture that folds into its natural environment
The
undergreen house is in concert with its surroundings,
providing affordable, energy-efficient housing that works
with Earth to help maintain a comfortable, even temperature.
A curved metal beam creates a vaulted arch, one of the strongest
and most protective of all building forms. Light streams into
the space through vertical windows, creating a bright, voluminous
environment.
The
undergreen house is energy efficient because it is protected
by earth terraces, so the house is effectively underground.
The terraces also provide raised planting beds. Rooms can
open onto the upper terraces, making the garden plateaus part
of the living experience.
Second-floor
mezzanines (shown in the fly-through at right) offer interior space
for bedrooms, bathrooms, media rooms that are open, organic spaces.
Clerestory
windows bounce light into the parabolic interior, scattering light
throughout the space below. The clerestory windows, inspired by
church designs, solve one of the main problems with underground
structures: light. The undergreen house thus combines the best features
of above-ground architecture for abundant natural lighting with
the underground advantage of climate-control.
Climate
control is built in to the undergreen house
because it is erected on grade and covered with earth. The
earth is of varying compositions to control groundwater percolation.
The terraces cover septic tanks and earth tubes as well as
providing climate control.
(Click
on the image below to see more views of the house, including
more video fly-throughs.)
(Click
on the images at left to see more video fly-throughs.)
The
earth terraces provide climate control because the temperature
of any underground space is the median temperature of its
aboveground location. For example, an underground structure
in Alamosa, Colorado, where temperatures vary from 100 to
40 degrees, remains at a nearly constant 44 degrees.
This nearly constant median temperature allows the most efficient
use of energy to maintain a comfortable living environment.
The
undergreen house is a prefab steel or glulam wood structure.
The basic structure can be erected very quickly and economically,
providing immediate shelter while remaining construction continues.
Basic costs are as low as $50 per square foot.
