#video by #Practical-Engineering on #building #tunnels #underground. Almost entirely talking-head filler and stock footage, though there’s a chart plotting unsupported roof span against “stand up time” at 10'17", with “competent rock” of high rock mass rating being able to stand up without support for a long time, not even rock bolts (anchors), much less more advanced supports. #digging
on 02026-02-18#faircompanies #video on Zach and Allison Anderson’s “#underground maze of light-filled earth homes” #dwelling, which is mostly not really underground. The above-ground part looks magical, #building with twisted #ferrocement trees for pillars and a central tower, with curved raised-bed gardens on some of the roof. Totally based on ferrocement. Most beds are inside apses behind archways in the walls of bedrooms, sleeping niches with a bed-height floor. Footage is included of spraying the “falseworks” of ½" rebar and slab mesh and expanded metal lath with shotcrete after plastering one side with fiber-enriched plaster. Rainfall from the top is collected through a 3 “inch” pipe into a huge donut-shaped underground cistern (60000 “gallons”). For tax purposes most of the house is categorized as “landscaping” because it’s not climate-controlled. Largely inspired by Forestiere’s underground gardens. The bookshelves on the spiral staircase up to the vault house contain Robert Ludlum, Orson Scott Card, William Gibson, Jo Nesbø, Andy Weir, James Patterson, and Kate Atkinson. His main bed is on a balcony near the top of the tower, “high enough off the ground that there are no mosquitoes”. For outer walls with sandstone-like veins through them, with the appearance of wind-eroded strata, they built custom trowels to plaster it on there, then used an “organic patina acid” to darken some of the strata after it cured. Elsewhere he “pivoted” his ferrocement around an existing oak grove in order to incorporate it into the living space. There are lots of bookshelves that are actually doors. Also there is a chicken coop. His term for the standard superadobe geometry is “lancet dome”, like a lancet arch.
on 02026-01-13very nice overview of #passive-solar #energy-storage in #building. #energy
on 02025-09-03The "Barra system" is an interesting #passive-solar #energy-storage #building system using #thermosiphon air flow. #energy
on 02025-09-03