Man, you could even take your dog for a walk to take his/her dumps on your green roof. Awesome.

This reminds me of a project by The Jersey Devil Design Build

And this one by Future Systems:

House

that's a neat idea. a lot of houses that are built on/into hillsides have an understated street-side elevation so it's a concept that could clearly be expanded on.

baboomba you are about a thousand years behind the times on this one

and yes, of course it's a great idea! ...except for those of us who suffer from S.A.D.

and kind of this one. it's not really built into the ground but into the cavity between 2 hills.

http://www.mystudio.us/MediaSpill.pdf

That's what I'm talkin' bout.

But you know, after looking at those houses I'm not sure I'd want to live underground after all. Might start feeling claustrophobic. Not sure.

I grew up near this house by PJ

A friend of mine was at a party there one time..apparently someone's drunk ass fell off of the roof

Back in the day, there was a guy named Malcolm Wells who rocked the earth sheltered world:

http://www.malcolmwells.com/

My supervisor was a hippy/passive solar guy in the 70s who hung around with Wells and Steve Baer back in the day. Check out Wells' studio:



...which of course was condemned by a hostile highway dedication, and subsequently paved. New Jersey.

Maybe it was my mad-max worshiping, god/apocalypse fearing childhood waiting for "red-dawn" to happen, that i developed this infatuation with the idea of underground houses.

I have always thought it was soo cool and efficient in some ways.

I even had multiple debates in school with proffs about whether buildings partially underground were architecture.

I, of course, feel they are... Keep the dream alive.

a guy who lives in the apartment above me is a hobbit. his apartment is normal sized and above ground.

good old stinky...

there was a house in the town i grew up in - that was located on a flat site and was entirely built into the ground - i dont think it was designed to be like this as it is nothing more than a cookie cutter, mcmansion suburban neighborhood - i think the people who built it (early 80's) ran out of $$ so popped in some 12" tall ribbon windows 3' off the ground (vinyl sidding below - eek) framed a shed roof and called it a day.

i was always curious about this house when i was a child - i was fascinated with the normal row of houses and then there was this gap and a sea of asphalt.

when i was in high school they built a garage next to it which only reinfoced the awkwardness of the place.

oh boy, did everyone in the community hate that house, it was funny to hear people go off about it... i have no clue who lived there

Let's not forget Hundertwasser. Some of his buildings, especially the Spa he built are extremely Hobbit-like. They have grass roofs, 'tree-tenants', and some have round doors as well.

damn you emily, you beat me to it. Yeah, find a good book on Hundertwasser and ponder whether the straight line really is evil. I love his words, but his buildings are uncomfortable to look at, though i'm sure he is quite o.k. with that, as long as they 'feel' like they should. And until i hop the pond, i won't know personally if they do achieve that.

Personally I found Hundertwasser House in Vienna to be astoundingly comfortable - it "felt" just right - though that opinion certainly leaves me open to ridicule here! I love that kind of hippie work.

Thanks for all the responses. Really interesting stuff.

43N88W, your note about the above-ground hobbit cracked me up.

Michael Reynolds here in New Mexico has been doing earthships since the 60's

http://www.earthship.org/

I love this stuff, esp. the first couple posted! I would like to try to do one that didn't have an adverse affect on us S.A.D. or borderline S.A.D. people, because they look so cozy and warm and homely.

I think Liberty Bell has summed it up perfectly, Hundertwasser house does just 'feel' right. When you see it in person, it feels unbelievably 'liveable', which is in direct opposition to quite a few other modern homes I've visited. Track down Taschen's 25th Anniversary Series Hundertwasser. There is an amazing section on his architectural works which also includes the criticism from other architects who were working in Vienna at the time it was built. Seems nearly every 'regular' architect there hates his guts, which means he must be doing something right.

Yeah - this shit gives my husband the heebie-jeebies, or else our house would have a bit of that character too!

There is a house about an hour out of my home town that is "underground" although its more like they just burried the back half of their double-wide with dirt. Its not a "natural" hill, most obviously man-made. And it was some what cool, until they put this nice, pitched metal roof about 3' above the dirt mound. Must've had a leak.

cture

I have this fantasy of designing earth-sheltered homes. Of course, I become wildly famous, make millions of dollars, and retire to my sky mansion (cause underground ones will be so cliche)

To be quite literal, friends of mine were asked to design a "hobbit house" for a collector of hobbit stuff....

http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/how-to/articles/inside-hobbit-house.aspx

Not earth sheltered, but I remember seeing sketches of it when it was completely underground, with a grass roof. Too expensive for a private folly however.