Finally, someone builds an underground house that isn’t trying to look like Bag End. I dig!
Underground houses are nice because you’re already in the cellar if there’s a tornado.
I have seen many a house built into the sides of hills that didn’t look like this or a hobbit house.
It would have been nice to see native plants on the roof rather than turf. Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, but it seems like bragging that your mansion is green because it has LED lights in it’s bathroom.
“Boy! Get up there and mow the roof, now!”
It looks to me (in the top photo) that the architect has provided a T-Box. For me, very few things are quite as fun a tee-ing off into your neighbor’s back (or front) yard… wooo hooo!!! 
I’ve seen many a picture of an underground house. Mr Izz is very into these things. They’re interesting from an aesthetic as well as a scientific point of view (in terms of the heating and cooling processes). They really are very cost efficient in many ways, but if you build it incorrectly, they can be horribly damp and mould ridden.
Anyway, if he hasn’t already seen this picture, I’m sure he’d love it 
But where will the hobbits live?
Apparently, on the island of Flores. 
–James
A lot of undergrounds in Wisconsin of all kinds, a number with prairies on top, some with terraces and trees and shrubs. I’d want to have bird feeders and a periscope. We have a friend who lives off the grid in Waushara Co. who is underground but has solar collectors and photovoltaics on the “turf roof” along with the occasional sheep.
I don’t know if the house in the original post
is underground at all. In this picture, it seems
like it just has a lawn roof, but is otherwise on
flat ground. Am I missing something?
Does “underground” just mean “there’s ground
on top of it”?
Yes, it’s more of a terraced effect, like a rice paddy or something.
This is similar to having a walk-out basement in that the lowest level of the house is built into a slope. So on one side the exit is a ground level, and on the other your backed into the hillside. But instead of having another story or two above the walk-out level, you configure your roof to be able to accommodate vegetation.
That’s what I was expecting, but I didn’t think
that’s what this house was. Especially because
of this part from the linked site:
If this were built into a hill, I wouldn’t think the
roof would be inaccessible from the outside.
There are differing types of “underground” houses. Some are almost entirely underground, in typical Hobbit fashion. Others are bermed which means only a part of the house is actually underground. The second picture above looks to be more of an earth bermed house than an underground house.
so, ya gotta drag the lawnmower through the house and up the secure stairs…
I’ve cruised through the barn before…
It doesn’t look bermed at all to me. It
looks like it’s on flat ground surrounded
by trees. Oh well. Maybe it’s just me.
Ok..looking back at your pictures, I think you could be right, but I’m not sure if it’s the same house as in the OP. That one is definitely an underground house (not even bermed). I was going on the first picture of the set, where it does look like it could be bermed. But the last picture, with the trees behind it, kind of defeats that viewpoint, doesn’t it? Hmmmm…interesting. I’ll have to look at the site you were on now.
I got it from the article that the OP pics are from
(you can click on the OP pics to read the article
they came from). I’m pretty sure it’s the same house.
It is weird looking at some of the pics taken from
the roof, though. The grass on the roof really throws
off your perspective when you’re trying to figure out
where the ground is in relation. I’ll be it’s kind of
disconcerting to be on that roof. You could walk right
off it before you know what’s up if you’re not careful!
It might be…I didn’t look at the article. Underground houses do look odd when you look at them from different perspectives. Sometimes they can look just like a regular house, until you see that the bulk of it is actually buried. Other times, you can’t even see them until you’re right on top of them (this would be the Hobbit type). It didn’t SEEM like the same house when looking at the pictures here on the thread. But I might be wrong.
I don’t think so. I think it’s the angle of perspective in the photos, with the grass on the roof blending into the grass in the distance on the (one story lower) ground. To me, it looks like a single-story house with a flat, grass-covered roof.
mmmm I like earthships better…
berti
Earthships are definitely cool