Green Design and Sustainable Architecture

EARTH-SHELTERED AND UNDERGROUND HOMES AS ALTERNATIVES

FOR THE UNFORTUNATE POST-COMMUNIST RESIDENTIAL
DEVELOPMENTS

Assist. Prof. Dr. Arch. Ioana Mădălina Moldovan

Assist. Prof. Arch. Silivan Valentin Moldovan
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eng. Nicoleta Maria Ilieș
Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania

ABSTRACT
Post-communist Romanian residential areas look like mushrooms after a good rain.
They grew randomly or in clusters, extremely diverse and equally poisonous. The
theoretical research identified housing models that not only use the earth as a warm
protective blanket, but as a way to pay respect to the environment. Covering a house
with soil and grass or sinking it into the ground is less violent to the eye, provides a
healthier environment for its inhabitants and offers new possibilities in landscape
design. Besides the environmental advantages, the approach can provide local identity
and affiliation. The study was conducted in order to identify the possibility of
implementation of a vernacular typology of housing in the contemporary society.
Keywords: underground design, earth-sheltered, green roofs, urban inconsistency, residential
sprawl

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