Can you build an underground house where you live or to the codes reflect some collusion with the building business?
I completely understand the esthetic reasons for zoning neighborhoods to be consistent looking, but not even a house of bomb shelter quality on five acres than no one else can see is possible in many jurisdictions.
3 Answers to "Can you build an underground house where you live or to the codes reflect some collusion with the building business?"
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depends on who you know... :)
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What.
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Often, the building codes in my country specify construction materials based on the assumption that the house will be above ground. So, the house part itself must be built of certain materials. An underground house is essentially a really nicely done basement -- in their terms. It would "take jobs away" or at least contractor income.
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I've seen a few almost-underground homes. Near here there's a trial development of bungalows which, seen against the horizon, look like military bunkers - three sides are covered in earth, planted with bushes and have retaining walls of railway sleepers. The south-facing fourth wall is end-to-end, top-to-bottom glass. A fella who lives in one reckons it's a steady 68 - 70F inside all year round without heating. They're very attractive. I've also seen a huge home, maybe a hundred feet long, dug into a beautifully-contoured hillside and again just one continuous expanse of glass left uncovered. That too looks great. I'm into 60s 'Brutalist' concrete architecture and live 70 feet up in a block of that period. I wouldn't want to come back down to earth. But I've been in a few decommissioned nuclear bunkers - they could look quite cosy with a few cushions and rugs:).Like (1)
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Posted by englishsteve Dec 7th, 2012 at 3:16AM
In the UK the answer would vary from one planning authority to the next. Ideas about harmony in built-up areas still figure, but some really adventurous inner-city architecture is going up, ditto one-off edge of town and rural homes. Architecture branded as regenerating derelict areas or exploiting eco- values is getting easier to slip through the bureaucracy . I think your underground house in five acres wouldn't meet too many problems at the planning stage. Probably the major centres of resistance are suburbia where anomalies are seen as a threat to property values as well as aesthetics. The building industry, although responsible for many crimes against humanity, is normally in mortal conflict with planners and so can't be blamed for the latter's conservatism. The volume industry's latest offence against society is the plague of 'look-alike' mock rural cottage estates springing up all over the UK. The materials used reflect a steady decline of industry skills and the build-quality of these places is often inexpressibly bad. I know big housing estate jobs whose engineers will, having looked over their shoulders for eavesdroppers, admit their handiwork won't be fit to live in twenty-five years from now. In a cynical mood, i might even say the industry is setting up its own long-term future - this, the next generation of instant slums, is going to need wholescale demolition and rebuilding before I've left this planet.
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Reply by TheSquirrel Dec 7th, 2012 at 12:43PM
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