Earth House

Earth House


An earth house is non-conventional type of house constructed without digging a foundation on a flat surface; rather it is built with the natural terrain by using sprayed concrete. This type of house doesn’t have corners or right angled walls, but are built according to the geometry of the existing environment by adjusting to the natural shapes, which is the most significant feature of this type of house. An earth house is the architecture mostly inspired by the ancient housing techniques, like burrows and caves, with a modern touch of art and strength of finely grained concrete. The concrete spray technique which was first patented by Natural Scientist Carl Akeley in 1911 is the method used to spray finely grained concrete in the structurally designed and welded web of metal bars. It is generally confused that an earth house is built by excavating and constructing the house under the earth, but an earth house is built on natural terrain adjusting to the slope allowing the owner to experience being in the lap of nature and at home at the same time.

There are various positive points as well as drawbacks too. The positive points are:
1.    Environment is conserved and there is very less or almost no waste of land.
2.    Roof garden is possible since the roof is covered with few centimeters to 3 m thick land. There is no need to excavate the land for making it flat or digging the foundation.
3.    Having a curved shape and roof windows, the house has a good access to natural light.
4.    Having the walls insulated by earth, the house is remains cool in summers and warm in winters.
5.    The house is fire proof, earthquake proof, atomic impact proof and storm proof being supported by earth.
The disadvantages are:
1.    The house may become highly humid because of the water absorbed on the roof, making it weak..
2.    Construction is costly.
3.    If the house is not designed thoughtfully, the incoming light may not spread evenly in the house.

4.    Interior designing becomes difficult in such houses because of its irregular and rounder walls.

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