Underground Circular
Framing
The
point of this study is to determine whether or not building an underground
house to the style of a hobbit hole, rather than a standard underground house, is
feasible.
First
off there are several types of underground houses, the first type are called “bermed
houses”, where the house is partially buried, usually the roof and a wall or
two is exposed. And the second types are called “chambered houses” where the only
things you can see are the windows and doors. For this research we will be focusing
on the latter. To build an underground house the jobsite must first be prepped,
the crew must excavate topsoil and earth where the house is to reside, and then
the construction begins. Like a standard above grade house, the chambered house
starts with the foundation and works its way up, the only difference is that
underground houses don’t need cladding or exterior finishes on the outer walls,
they do however, need more insulation and load bearing strength. Earth is a bad
insulator, even worse is damp earth. It’s just a great capacitor (stores heat),
the dirt is also a good conductor, best way to control this is too install rigid
installation in the home’s exterior fabric, do not put insulation on the
interior of the wall, the cold earth will be able to affect the exterior of the
house and cause structural damage, during the hotter seasons of the year the
earth roof gets cool from the respiration of plant life and evaporation of
moisture off the earth keep the building cool, (Roy R (1994) The complete book
of underground houses). Obviously some limitations apply, you can’t build an
underground house wherever you like (due to poor soil conditions or heavy
seismic activity) nor can you build a multi story building underground, within
the realm of reason.
Currently
this research has already showed the underground houses are greener. They
provide increased resistance to weather and natural disasters and close to a
constant interior temperature, due to the fact that the house is underground.
Yet hobbit homes require a greater amount of materials compared to a typical
submerged underground house, due to the circular shape, this being said, they
do offer more space inside the structure. The materials used can include “concrete
blocks, reinforced concrete, stone, membrane, rigid insulation, moisture
barrier, and then a drainage mat” (Ricketts, S (2004) A Guide to Canadian
Architectural styles) this can be applied for the walls/ceiling for a circular
framed house. Research has also shown, according to calculations, that a
circular framed building will be able to withstand a greater weight load than
typical framing; this is due to the force being distributed throughout more of the
frame, instead of just the walls, (Dorf, R (2005) The Engineering Handbook).. They may not use a given amount of space most
efficiently but it certainly would bring an abundance of privacy. Also due to
the layout of hobbit holes, which include many hallways and/or corridors,
pockets of earth, soil and possibly even rock, can provide additional load
bearing support to the structure, as it would be similar to having wide pillars
or columns running throughout the design. So for the extra cash this home will
cost, several benefits include more space, and more of a durable environment
