the underground house, albourne
construction cost: £750,000 project stage: design
innovation... this brief for this project was to create a five bedroom house within an existing sandpit located in an area of outstanding natural beauty in albourne.
a shallow plan form was adopted and the building was set out on a sinuous curve that followed the existing contours of the land, to ensure that all rooms had uninterrupted views of the south downs the access corridor was located to the rear of the house. to encourage natural ventilation and provide natural daylight to the rear of the property the corridors were stepped in section and a plate glass rooflight incorporated along the length of the back of the house.
to minimise the building's impact on the environment a variety of sustainable measures were proposed from high levels of insulation, thermal mass, ground source heat pumps and a reed bed system to treat waste water on site.
