Earth Sheltered Housing

What is an earth sheltered house?

An earth sheltered house is quite simply a building that uses earth (dirt) to protect it from the outside elements. Fallout shelters built during the Cold War era are in fact earth sheltered houses, or buildings. The focus of this website is however a somewhat more optimistic application of earth sheltering, and that is as an aid to building more energy efficient dwellings for now and into the future.

Table of Contents

• Why build an earth sheltered house?
  • Energy
  • Noise Reduction
  • Aesthetics
  • Cost
  • Safety
• Detailed Information on earth sheltered houses
  • Different types of earth sheltered homes
  • Site Considerations
  • Design Considerations
• Examples of earth sheltered houses
  • Burnsville House
  • Clark House
  • Seaward Townhouses
  • Sticks and Stones House
  • Hadley House
• Links to other sources on the web
• A list of books I used in producing this website