The Earth-Sheltered House: An Architect's Sketchbook (Real Goods Solar Living Book) (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The striking common sense of the author's perspective on design and the building process is based on millennia of use of earth-sheltered homes by animals and humans, using the earth to warm in winter and cool in summer. A cartoon on the book jacket summarizes Wells's perspective. One panel is called "20th Century," and has four steps of traditional building: love nature, kill it, build building, plant grass. The second panel, called "21st Century," says: love nature, leave it alone, find ruined land, build underground, restore natural habitat.

Wells's remarkable and imaginative architectural drawings, sketches, and landscaping and structural design plans are surrounded by his handwritten commentary about Earth-friendly building and design, cryptic remarks and humorous asides that make this book a pleasure to browse or read cover to cover. He offers a breathtaking assortment of some of the most creative and unusual home and building designs ever assembled in one book; site-appropriate structures for both urban and rural settings; and delightfully imaginative, dramatic, simple, and highly complex buildings for all purposes. Some are fully underground structures, some partially earth-sheltered, but all make the best use of light sources, designed to benefit from the sun and seasonal changes, and to protect or restore the natural habitat around and above them.

Wells's designs seem almost fanciful, but are indeed based on practical considerations and currently usable techniques and materials, helping open up a whole new concept of building based on one of the oldest known: caves and burrows. These are "caves and burrows" of soaring imagination and creative, 21st century brilliance. --Mark A. Hetts

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company; 1st Chelsea Green Ed edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890132195
• ISBN-13: 978-1890132194
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #986,909 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but not the first book to read on the subject, April 30, 2001

By	The Teacher "didaskalos" (Shreveport, LA United States) - See all my reviews

Having read the earlier reviews, I had an idea about what to expect from this unusual book. The number of incomplete projects presented was disappointing; the ideas look cool. Some of the buildings are not residences but planned commercial buildings. The book might be interesting as an idea book for an architect. A propsective home-buyer/builder might want to consider other books on the subject as starting points.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not what i'd hoped, August 31, 2000

By A Customer

this book contained beautiful sketches, but the sketches were of multiple failed (for many reasons) projects. if you are looking for lists of what to do, or what not to do, this is not the book for you. i'm still interested in the concept, but will need to buy other books.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Try Before You Buy, June 8, 2003

By A Customer

If you are interested in building an earth-shelter/underground home look elsewhere. This is not the book for you. I found nothing really compelling in this book and regret buying it. If you live in an area with hot summers, cold winters and no fire ants then I suggest buying "The Complete Book of Underground Houses" by, no kidding, Rob Roy. Rob claims that you can build the structure of a 40'x40' house for around 10,000 dollars. I learned from Rob that my area is probably not prime for an underground house because with the blazingly hot summers and very mild winters I won't be able to store up enough "capacitance" in the soil to give me extra "cooleth" in the summer, the time I really need it. Still, Rob Roy's book was very informative and I'm glad I bought it.