He built underground maze of light-filled earth homes in CA Sierras [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0bHhmpyKGg

58•surprisetalk•2mo ago

Comments

bix6•2mo ago

Saving to finish watching later this is super cool

more_corn•2mo ago

Neat!

johnohara•2mo ago

Kirsten did a nice job on Forestiere Gardens in Fresno, CA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUKRPoQKynk

ompogUe•2mo ago

I've watched this probably 5 times since it was released. It's all-the-way-around incredible.

trhway•2mo ago

looks like the fortifications and their underground parts from the previous centuries in my homecity that we were exploring as free-range children back in USSR when all those fortifications were sitting as is, unused/unattended and freely accessible.

mutagen•2mo ago

Some amazing ideas here, definitely inspiring.

The trees right up against the above-ground structures make me weep for defensible space. While the underground structures may be survivable in the event of a wildfire and the trees are beautiful I'd be happier seeing a property that feels more survivable in the types of fires we've been seeing in California.

trhway•2mo ago

natural question and way more complicated and interesting in its complexity here than the actual architecture - what about permits? Everybody can build, not everybody can manage getting permits for what they can build :)

ThereYourGo•2mo ago

They do discuss permits at ~5:50

davidw•2mo ago

Beautiful, but I bet those things cost a boatload.

Also, I don't know how much 'environmentalism' is the goal there, but most Americans' CO2 output on a personal level involves heating their homes and transportation, and building isolated housing where you have to drive a lot to get to anything doesn't help. You're better off with shared walls in a walkable city if you really want to lower your impact.

Still, that's a really beautiful part of the world and it looks well done.

fortran77•2mo ago

Were they twisty and all alike?

leobg•2mo ago

Book recommendation:

Recovering America : A More Gentle Way to Build [0]

Also, Mike Oehler (1938—2016) and his “The $50 and Up Underground House Book”.

[0] https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/recovering-america--a-more-gen...

[1] https://undergroundhousing.com/

ddellacosta•2mo ago

Heh I had a feeling that this was going to be Kirsten Dirksen before I clicked on it...great channel, lots of amazing projects to see there.

enduser•2mo ago

What happens when the drainage (he said PVC pipes below, waterproofing cloth above) fails? Seems like you'd have to rip up all this concrete to fix it..