11–20 of 38 posts
The answer is hell yes, either way :p
It’s hurricane o’clock presently in phoenix, and my internal organs should be cooked by dinner time. You might say that I’m therefore on board with out-of-the box ideas, like being mole people.
Versus this? Yes! Absolutely. Let’s use the cold ground for thermodynamic comfort, before it is ultimately a final destination.
It's definitely a good option, but you're going to be pushing the boundaries of your local contractors and the materials you can source and or hire a crew to install. If you're motivated, there are any number of ways to construct these dwellings, but the most interesting and appealing method that I saw was one made like a commercial warehouse. It was in Virginia, maybe around Roanoke in the mountains, but the owner used steel warehouse trusses and a dexpan roof (poured concrete over a substrate like corrugated metal). Since it was a known method, he hired a commercial crew to do it and they didn't have a problem iirc other than getting the crane down his driveway. Istr I found this on the break time finehomebuilding forums...
While Wrights building techniques do work. There is only so much you can do. For example you don’t see anyone building caves to store wine in the desert. In Europe where you used to see cool weather the majority of the year and a scorching summer, yes it makes sense to go underground because it was naturally cooler.
In the desert, the earth itself is hot and if go underground, it will only get hotter.
[1] https://franklloydwright.org/living-with-nature-passive-ener...
I once visited Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West in the Arizona desert. It was built in the 1930s and pioneered passive energy and cooling technique’s in the desert like you mentioned [1]. While Wrights building techniques do work. There is only so much you can do. For example you don’t see anyone building caves to store wine in the desert. In Europe where you used to see cool weather the majority of the year and a…
Not the case in practice ...
It can get to be 42ºC (108 Fahrenheit) in the Australian town of Coober Pedy — and that's in the shade. With opal mines that look like giant ant hills and a network of underground dwellings where residents live, this is the kind of place where the searing heat warps perspectives, and yet somehow clarifies them. [1] (corrected, npr got the common summer max temp conversion wrong)
The miners quickly discovered the advantages of living underground to escape the heat of the summer and winter's cool desert nights. No matter how harsh the climate, the underground rooms maintain a comfortable, even temperature ranging from 23ºC to 25ºC day and night throughout the year. [2]
Radon and lack of vitamin D will be problems.
Living underground doesn't mean you can't swim and surf in the mornings and evenings nor stop you from piping in natural sunlight via architectural means (light wells, mirror tubes, etc).
There's a reason I can think of that it might not work so well again. Lots of non-human animals survived the cold quite well, so there was game for those ancient ancestors to hunt, but there might be much less game surviving in great heat.
Instead of building underground you could use earthen materials but stay above ground. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuQB3x4ZNeA