| If you happened across a home built from an | | | | 4. Air should be fanned from a solar collector through |
| underground house floor plan you could be forgiven for | | | | the home duct work into a rock store beneath the |
| thinking the owners might be Hobbits because the only | | | | main living space. The store system maintains an |
| things visible might be a door or window set into a | | | | efficient heat-exchange which works with the insulating |
| foliage covered hill. This type of home is actually a | | | | soil to maintain a comfortable temperature year round. |
| series of small, interconnecting domes made from | | | | A good system would require no additional heating or |
| cement and partially or completely submerged into the | | | | cooling. |
| earth. | | | | The dome shaped rooms give rise to maximum floor |
| Such unconventional house floor plans are actually a | | | | space and minimum wall area. Floor areas do not to |
| step in the right direction for those persons thinking | | | | conform to traditional housing expectations and and |
| outside the box in terms of energy conservation and | | | | the living spaces are defined with curved walls with no |
| environmental benefits. Living underground in such | | | | sharp corners. Natural sunlight can be channeled into |
| earth-sheltered housing has its merits and takes a very | | | | the house via the use of a skylight lined with natural |
| conservative view in energy usage. | | | | reflective materials. |
| When considering an underground house floor plan, | | | | Underground house floor plans got their start in the |
| look for the following applications: | | | | 1970s from an Austrian architect named Eisenhofer. |
| 1. The house floor plan should blur the distinction | | | | Sadly, most dismissed his energy efficient and |
| between indoors and outdoors. The purpose is to exist | | | | unconventional house plans as nothing more than a |
| in close harmony with nature. | | | | hippie experiment. It has only been within the past few |
| 2. The windows should be honeycomb style to | | | | years that interest in earth-sheltered housing is |
| harness solar energy. | | | | attracting some interest. As people become more |
| 3. Since the windows for this type of floor plan don't | | | | environmentally conscious, the popularity of |
| open, an intake vent system with filters should be | | | | underground house floor plans as an energy efficient |
| installed to draw fresh air from outside. The filters help | | | | alternative can only increase. |
| keep out unwanted pests. | | | | |