Bunker homes don’t have to be 1960’s shaggy
Make Architects is working on getting permits in the United Kingdom for the first zero-carbon underground home (aka bunker) for British soccer superstar Gary Neville. The home blends into the earth and is a one story, 8,000sf designed with the client’s enthusiasm for green building in mind.
All building materials for this sexy hillside structure are locally sourced, and the home will be heated with a ground source heat pump and renewable energy will be generated by photovoltaic panels and an on-site wind turbine. Designed to take the form of a flower, the center of the home is the designer kitchen.
According to Inhabitat.com, “The structure has already been selected as an exemplary project within the Government’s ‘Planning Performance Agreements for Renewable and Low Carbon Energy Schemes’, and it is anticipated to be so advanced that the government is considering using the scheme as a benchmark for all future zero-carbon developments.”
Enough chit chat, here’s the sexiness:
BawldGuy
February 16, 2010 at 12:06 pm
As a SoCal native, the obvious first question is, What happens when the first moderate, 5.0 earthquake hits nearby? 🙂
Lani Rosales
February 16, 2010 at 12:19 pm
When we get signs of an earthquake, we’ll rush to make sure you’re trapped inside the eco house 😉 Juuust kidding.
The home featured above is in the UK (not known for earthquakes quite like Cali is), but you’re right, it would be geographically limited. For example, here in Austin, it would have to be built pretty high up into a hill so as not to hit the water table, plus we’re on a bed of limestone which is a tad harder to dig into than dirt or sand.
Regardless, the effort to build something of this magnitude in such a zero carbon way is pretty dang impressive!
Matthew Hardy
February 17, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Some alien will prolly say: “Ooo! Cool landing site!”
At Htsome in Moorestown
February 17, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Its a nice idea for the green age and an impressive effort though impractical on any meaningful scale.