The Eternal House

When a man wishes to build a truly great house, he builds a tomb.

[remash]

casa bruma ~ fernanda canales | photos © rafael gamo

[archatlas]

Thomas Heatherwick reveals Zeitz MOCAA art galleries carved out of Cape Town grain silo 

Thomas Heatherwick has created South Africa’s biggest art museum – by hollowing out the inside of a historic grain silo building. Described by the British designer as “the world’s tubiest building”, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, or Zeitz MOCAA, is set to become the world’s most important exhibition space for African art.

[historical-nonfiction]

Welcome to Derinkuyu, an underground city that once housed up to 20,000 people. In the Cappadocia region, famous for its cave dwellings and underground villages, Derinkuyu stands out for sheer size and complexity. Locals began digging in the 500s BCE. The city consists of over 600 doors, each of which can be closed from the inside. Each floor could be closed off as well. And just to make attacking completely impossible, the entire city was deliberately built without any logic. Its maze-like layout makes navigating the city nightmarish for unfamiliar invaders.

[remash]

private house in the cotswolds ~ found associates

[theeternalhouse]

A fabulous earth-bermed house in the magical land of Cotswolds.

[theeternalhouse]

This recently discovered underground city in Cappadocia, Turkey is 5000 years old. The settlement may be the largest and is certainly one of the oldest of its kind. This demonstrates once again that earth-sheltered architecture is built to stand the test of time.

[theeternalhouse]

Sietch Nevada is a concept for an underground desert community, designed by Matsys Designs and inspired by Frank Herbert's Dune. The design allows both water and daylight to be harvested on the surface while water and energy are stored far below. Inhabitants of this sietch would be protected from the heat and dust storms underground where temperatures would be cool and stable. Vegetables could be grown hydroponically to feed the inhabitants, cleaning the water naturally to provide the population potable water. Living underground remains the most sustainable way to live.

[theeternalhouse]

Make Architect's Neville residence to be built in Bolton, England this year, disappears into the landscape. In fact, the flower-shaped home is earth-sheltered with petal-shaped courtyards affording plenty of daylight and views for the British footballer resident, Gary Neville, and his family. At 8,000 square feet, I will not call this private residence sustainable, but it is an exemplary example of architecture built to last. Nestled under the earth, this stone-clad house is safe, private, comfortable, and beautiful all at the same time.

[theeternalhouse]

Perhaps the greatest benefit of living underground is security. This bunker as built on Mount Aksla in Alesund, Norway.

[destroyed-and-abandoned]

The Stone House on Balch Creek: Portland, Oregon

Source: jamzik (flickr)

[theeternalhouse]

While the wood roof on this Federal Works Progress Administration building on Balch Creek in Portland, Oregon is long gone, the stone structure remains in tact after more than 80 years.

[theeternalhouse]

This cabin in the Swiss Alps was designed by Georg Nikisch and Selina Walder and was made with sculpted concrete, meant to mimic the undulations of a log cabin. The designers opted for concrete rather than wood because of its durability in the harshest of conditions. 

[theeternalhouse]

Not only are these houses, concrete and glass, built to last, but they, all 10, were built in a day for less than $5000 each. WinSun 3D printed these revolutionary houses with perhaps the world's largest 3D printer at 490 feet long, 33 feet wide, 20 feet high, using recycled materials. Sustainably built to last!

(All apologies for the poor image quality.)

[theeternalhouse]

The Truffle House was built by Ensemble Studio in Laxe on the Coast of Spain in 2010. The house wasn't so much built as cultivated of concrete, straw, and earth. This small cottage will be overlooking the Atlantic Ocean long after it's glass window has returned to the sands of this pristine shore.

[taphophilia]

[theeternalhouse]

Bohemian National Cemetery was built in Chicago in 1877. These stone mausoleums have sheltered their residents for over 100 years.

[architectureofdoom]

Orlando Public Library, Florida, John M. Johansen, 1962-66. Pictures by Michael R. Allen. View this on the map

[theeternalhouse]

This public library in Orlando, Florida was built to last with concrete, appropriate to its task of preserving the precious books inside. By some serendipitous coincidence, the photographer is a great old friend of mine.

[theeternalhouse]

These houses were carved into volcanic rock in Kandovan, Iran. These houses are similar to but not to be confused with those in Cappadocia, Turkey. A whole village, almost 200 families and over 600 individuals, lives in these rock houses, which will be here until the rock itself is eroded away.

[destroyed-and-abandoned]

Angkor Thom 1000 years old door, Cambodia

Source: Riboulbo (reddit)

[theeternalhouse]

This stone gate house is one of the entrances to Angkor Thom, The Great City, the capitol city of the Khmer Empire, and was built over 800 years ago. It was rediscovered 400 years ago in Cambodia after several hundred years of disuse. King Jayavarman VII built this city to outlast his own reign.

[theeternalhouse]

This earth-sheltered house was built with large precast concrete drainage pipes and resembles a hobbit house from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. While a hobbit house may stand for the lifetime of a hobbit, this house will stand for many hobbit lifetimes.