Underground Homes and Buildings

Many different designs for underground homes and buildings

Earlier this year, we published a post about Underground Homes.  Of the comments that I received on it, one of my friends asked me if I realized that it used to be against the law to live in an earth sheltered home in Scotland.  Wow, I thought!  I wonder what governmental interest is served by that prohibition?  Curious and with a love for research (I am a lawyer, after all), I decided to… dig a little deeper.  Turns out there is much more to underground homes and buildings than meets the eye!

Even though the Scottish ban has been lifted, there are still people opposed to underground living.  Nonetheless, the popularity of subsurface homes is growing.  Not only can you save a tremendous amount on utility bills, but also costly construction materials.  You can also help preserve open space and trees, when building the surface of the earth.

From caves to caverns, partially to fully covered by earth, underground homes come in a range of styles and sizes.  You can literally live like a mole or a millionaire.

Underground homes and buildings have been around for centuries!  Beyond private homes, in the United States alone, there are over 650 underground buildings.  Art galleries enjoy the fact that underground displays are protected from damaging sunlight.  Not surprisingly, there are a number of wineries that are partially or fully subsurface, too.

Let’s go on a quick tour of some other underground homes and buildings.  Its quite a photo gallery!

"Troglodyte" structures at Matmata (image courtesy of http2007 on Flickr)

Iceland underground home (image courtesy of Diego Cupolo on Flickr)

Underground home in Maine (image courtesy of MikeWebkist on Flickr)

Underground living in Australia (image courtesy of wheres_lisa on Flickr)

Chinese underground homes (image courtesy of Ian Riley on Flickr)

Earth sheltered home in Mississippi (image courtesy of NatalieMaynor on Flickr)

As you can see, the options for underground homes and buildings are endless.  With pressures on open plains and natural settings from the land development industry, could we all be living in subsurface homes one of these days?