House project pt1

[den]

For ages now I've been doing a mental exercise where I build the sort of house I'd like given the money and location. So I thought I'd render it. The house is a square u-shape, with the wings enclosing a courtyard.



These are the first vizualizations to get the dimensions sort of right. The camera is looking at the North wall, with the wings running South. What you're looking at is the exterior surface with no windows and doors. This will eventually be covered in a thick layer of packed earth and grass. Yes, it's an underground house. The outer surface is essentially a sheild to keep the dirt out. It will be made of reinforced shotcrete about 200mm thick.



Looking from the NE corner of the cortyard to the South wall and gate.



The courtyard will play an important role in lighting, and the air cooling and circulation system. More about that later. Interior windows of the house will look into the courtyard, so the yard functions as a light-well. It will be brick on all 4 sides, and will be slightly higher than the top of the house roof. That means the top of the retaining wall will be about 5m high. It will be roofed over with a heavy clear perspex in a steel frame to form a low pyramid over the yard. A grated hole 1m square replaces the apex. The hole is for ventilation, and the perpex is to catch rain for drinking water. It will also stop people falling down the courtyard. Which would be bad.

The house should be built on a flat area cut from the side of a hill, with the south wall hard against the raw stone face. A stairway leads from the door up to the top of the hill.

To be continued.

Comments

[ngarewyrd.livejournal.com]

egads, just need a round door, and you've got a hobbit home..

course, you're the right size for a hobbit, so why does this suprise me? =8)

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Doors and interior walls will be flat and rectangular, as normal. 8)

And shush, you. I don't smoke.

[ngarewyrd.livejournal.com]

bah, you're just saying that cos you know i'm right!

*dances about, singing 'batty's a hobbit, batty's a hobbit!'*

[copperwolf.livejournal.com]

I've daydreamed about a similar design. I very much like the U-shape layout, and a buried home has undeniable advantages in energy efficiency. At first I thought that putting the opening to the south would make for harsh lighting contrasts, but then I remembered you're in the other hemisphere. :)

Is perspex the same stuff as plexiglass, that is, a strong, transparent, and somewhat flexible plastic?

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

Perspex is another name for plexiglass. It'll have to be strong enough to stop someone falling in.

When I go to Europe I lose my sense of direction. The sun is in the *wrong* part of the sky and I get turned around 180 degrees. It takes me a week to get used to it.