Personally, I preferred the style of the earth sheltered “home” shown in the last post. I liked everything about it from the organic lines to the tropical color palette and location. But there is more than one way to go underground. Here is another option.
If you live in a cloudy, wet, windy maritime climate and want a very modern earth shelter with just a little bit of earth, a wide view and room to breath… Maybe the Malitor house is what your are looking for.
This is the “back” of the Malator house. The front has similar windows, so you can imagine the cross breezes…
This home was built in 1998 for a wealthy Welsh Member of Parliament There were strict rules in place against “visible construction, destruction of the landscape, or disruption of wildlife” on this site. Earth sheltering was really the only solution. Even the drive way and walking path are hidden just below the sod.
The structure is only one room deep and 3 rooms wide with a “pod” hiding the bathroom and other pluming. The roof is contoured to fit naturally into the hilly site, and like the surrounding hills, it is covered simply with grass. In fact, I suspect the roof is mowed by Welsh sheep. Looking thru these links, I noticed that they went with the same wood stove that I was initially considering; before I saw the price.
This is the front door of the home. This angle hints at the expansive view seen thru the back window wall…
With its small scale and other clues (such as no garage), I suspect this is more of an occasional weekend retreat rather than a full time home, but it is still very interesting and shows some of the flexibility of earth sheltered design.
Malator made it into Forbes magazine as “Incredible Fortress Home”, and Architectural Digest listed it as one of the “Most Innovative Homes of the Last Century“. But this link has the best slide show…