I am captivated! Look at this Low Impact Woodland Home!

This is pretty sweet.

There's a similar sort of house about an hour away from where I live. It's across the road from my old friend's house. Not quite so LOTR-looking, but underground that way with only the door visible and lots of wildflowers growing on it. I always thought it was awesome. If I had money for gas, I'd go take a pic of it to add to the thread.

S&F Awesome place.

I want it TOO!!!

Thankful for the wisdom of the hobbits...and the People of EARTH

Thank your for Dreams and Inspirations

Very reminiscent of cob building....see HouseAlive.org
House Alive Cob Project


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/16721ec73ff9.jpg[/atsimg]

∞LOVE∞

Originally posted by berkeleygal
I want this sooo bad!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1fcbc9631882.jpg[/atsimg]

www.simondale.net...

Absolutely enchanting! Be sure to click the links at the bottom to see the house plans and to see what they are building next.

If I had the land I would do something like this in a new york minute!

I expect the smurfs to climb out at any moment..

I know in maryland I've seen a few houses built like this. (not this extreme)..but same concept.

Cool wee house, I wonder how they got permission for that. In the UK if you put up a kids play shed the council can ask you to take it down again. Planning permission is a complicated thing.

Thought you'd like this little gallery of pics. Is this the future? Would be nice.

www.rogerdean.com...

Originally posted by MoorfNZ
I WANT ONE!! Especially after our earthquake - I'd feel safe in there

Nice find

S&F

Yea, but then you'd get hit with a flood. There's no predicting mother nature.

Very awesome. I'm amazed at how simple the construction was for how beautiful the shelter is. Functional, simplistic, more beautiful than 95% of the homes in the civilized world. Thanks for sharing Berkeley Chica.

reply to post by frozenspark


Well here's your chance -

Here's my kids' (Edwardsville)school building a cob house it really is child's play when you've got the know how and a pair of hands, the kids loved making this house and it looks stunning now.

Straw, mud, stones, shells, turf, timber, bottles , time and the magic ingredient = Really great teachers and kids !



The lard guy doing the dry stone wall is my brother, if you can get him out of the pub he could build a bloody pyramid lol.

I absolutely adore it! So cozy - imagine all the animals - and of course I would want to invite some of them inside. One would feel like they are living in a fantasy land - I wanna be a Hobbit!

Reminds me of when i was a kid and i used to make shelters in woods. I always dreamt about actually living somewhere like that. I doubt theres anywhere round here that i could get away with it though. Unless i bought some land and done it.

Originally posted by TechUnique
Reminds me of when i was a kid and i used to make shelters in woods. I always dreamt about actually living somewhere like that. I doubt theres anywhere round here that i could get away with it though. Unless i bought some land and done it.

Try this -

reply to post by frozenspark


This was posted on ATS a while back and now that I think about it, might have been part of the reason I took up carpentry.

Originally posted by Hefficide

You do realize that the house looks suspiciously like it belongs in the Shire! Looking at the picture I kept looking to see if Frodo was gardening!

Aside from that it is a pretty cool dwelling. As long as it's wired and has A.C. I could see myself digging it.

In Wales with a grass roof he wouldn't need AC.

Of course here in Texas where I live, I don't think a grass roof will spare you from the wrath of August.

Great share! I've been reading LOTR trilogy and just watched the movie on TV. I absolutly adore the hobbits life in the Shire.

Here are some more pictures of hobbit-like holes.













and here is what the interior looks like from the hobbit house you posted.



And here is a hobbit like office of Jane Fonda. (from her blog) said she was inspired by lord of the rings and got this window for her office. I want my office to look like that!




If I was rich I would build a hobbit house community. Your all invited to have a home there. Tweaked for the modern hobbit complete with cable and internet. And of course we will have a bomb shelter underneath...stocked with canned vegetables from our sprawling farmlands. LOL

This should be how we all live. It is so natural so intriguing and lt does not spoil natures beauty. I will build one of these.

reply to post by berkeleygal


I am in process of looking to by land and build a home. I have been telling wife that this is type home we should be building. She is not crazy about it, thinks that people (mainly her family) wil think that it is weird to live like this.

I have her on board with building a log home, but I really feel this is the way to go. I really want to be as self sufficient as possible. small garden, few animals winnd and or solar power. love the house.

reply to post by berkeleygal


Hey, who gave you permission to post photgraphs of my house?

Just kidding.

I could probably force myself to live there.
As long as there were no neighbours. For miles.
And a little beach down the hill where the dogs could run.
And decent internet access.
Yes, I would need decent internet access

Originally posted by snowen20
This is pretty sweet and looks relatively inexpensive to purchase.
I wonder though if I could build something like this where I'm currently living.
Where I live is prone to Earthquakes, floods, mudslides and typhoons, not to mention a torrential monsoon season.

Earth sheltered homes can be built in a manner that is highly earthquake resistant.

This guy goes into that in detail.

www.undergroundhousing.com...

He also claims you can build a small one with natural materials for as little as $50.

As for monsoon, flooding, and typhoons you may be better off with a raised platform type
building using a concrete and rock wall on the typhoon side as a shield.

My concern is that building it into the side of any hill side may prove dangerous or destructive at the very least come the rainy season.

Some methods seal materials in poly styrene, and Mike Oehler goes into that.

The fact you have monsoon, flooding and typhoon might be better to do the raised
platform model, making piers of the rock to get the building above flood level.

Other methods simply use terraces and french drains like they did at Machu Picchu.

en.wikipedia.org...

It is a LOT more work on a steep incline, the raised pier method is likely best for
high flooding areas.

Also A concern of mine would be the many insects that might find the house edible.

Insects do not like the taste of several different things, you add that into the mix.

Cedar shavings, wood ash, some flowers, basil for mosquitoes, spearmint for ants.

en.wikipedia.org...

www.stretcher.com...

There are other plants that act as natural repellents too.

Moreover I have to also consider the prospect of mold accumulating the the hay walls as it traps moister, water being retained in the ceiling and what not. Not that I have to build it like this there are many kubo/ nipa style houses here that can stand for a 100 years but I just like this architecture. I currently live in the land of bamboo and rocks so supplies wouldn't run out.

The polystyrene wrap helps with the mold, and also with lots of rocks in your area build up a short wall
of rock first to 1 - 3 feet, and then use hay bales from there on up.

Then seal the outside of the hay with something akin to adobe, but then put on a water proof
natural glaze or make siding out of split bamboo you have there.

Substituting hay with woven leaves is better here since its tropical, and coconut fronds make a suitable roof. I think I'm going to attempt a tropical hybrid version of this.

In tropical areas with lots of water a raised house helps a lot if there is flooding, the hay bales or bales of
other plant matter provide cheap insulation.

Good Luck !

Originally posted by wigit
Cool wee house, I wonder how they got permission for that. In the UK if you put up a kids play shed the council can ask you to take it down again. Planning permission is a complicated thing.

Thought you'd like this little gallery of pics. Is this the future? Would be nice.

www.rogerdean.com...

You can build it cob style in the UK if you submit plans, get permits, and
have a civil engineer or architect sign off on the design and it on par with
the 400+ year old buildings already in the UK.

en.wikipedia.org...

In 2000/2001, a modern, four-bedroom cob house in[5], UK, designed by Associated Architects sold for £745,000. Cobtun House was built in 2001 and won the Royal Institute of British Architects' Sustainable Building of the Year award in 2005.[6] The total construction cost was £300,000, but the metre-thick cob outer wall cost only £20,000.[7]

Looks like a good way to make a bit of money too...

Originally posted by berkeleygal
I want this sooo bad!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1fcbc9631882.jpg[/atsimg]

www.simondale.net...

Absolutely enchanting! Be sure to click the links at the bottom to see the house plans and to see what they are building next.

If I had the land I would do something like this in a new york minute!

Simply divine !!!

I saw this a while back and it was love at first sight ... hadn't seen the interior shots though ... now I love it even more.

Woody