Resilient and cool: The rise of underground homes

Jacinta Cleary looks at four earth-sheltered homes designed and built for bushfires and heatwaves.

Jacinta Cleary

While some residents in hot Coober Pedy live in underground dugouts for their cool, stable temperatures, events such as Black Saturday and the Black Summer have led those living in fire-prone areas to build into the earth for bushfire protection. What can we learn from earth-sheltered homes when it comes to bushfire resilience and thermal efficiency, and what are these homes like to live in? We look at the design and construction of four earth-sheltered homes, including homes rebuilt after bushfires. Building back better When Don and Cheryl lost their western red cedar home early in the 2019 Black Summer, they had already decided their future home would be more sustainable and “on a more defendable location on their property”. Their BAL assessor concurred, giving the open location for their…

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Renew (Digital) - 1 Issue, 166 / Jan-Mar 2024

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