Week 9 - Underground Communities

Underground Communities concept

As the concept of my design is an underground community, I thought it would be best if I did some background research on other conceptual or actual underground designs existing. Within this research I found the Sietch Nevada a subterranean terrace system within Nevada, USA (seen below).

1

Before finding this concept I had a similar idea, that would create an underground community such as this. Obviously however there are major differences in my preferred layout, and I think for my underground community to work,the layout will look somewhat opposite to this one. The penetration of the sun (seen in this concept) is an important idea that I would like to incorporate into my design and I think it is important that people within the space are able to see the sun, to have a sense of what time of the day or night it is, and always have that connection to the outside world.

Within my design I think rather than having big open voids with activity centres separated from each other, such as what can be seen above, there will be bigger areas taken up with residential apartments for people to live in. There will also be several 'pods' or open areas where there will be vegetation growing and constant access to the sky above. This idea is not too dissimilar to what can be seen in image (3) and can be understood by looking at the section and plan below (4)and(5).

2

If you look closely, you are able to see that the vegetation recesses in the ground are actually positioned within the activity centres seen above in image (1). This allows those within the space to always have close access to the vegetated spaces, no matter where they are walking in the underground space.

3

The image above gives an idea of what I would like to create in these underground spaces. However my design will look at positioning  areas of residence rather than voids between these pods and activity centres. These shafts in my design will include dense vegetation from top to bottom and will have water bodies located on the bottom floor. This will provide water for the vegetation and facilitate those within the underground community. All water will go through filtration systems that can purify all water, so there is very little water lost throughout the cycle.

4

The plan above shows a rough concept sketch I drew, showing the various 'pods' with the open vegetation and community areas and the residential housing around these spaces. These spaces will be connected with each other through various paths and the underground community will be vegetated throughout through technology with the ability to reflect and transfer light into underground spaces. The underground community will also have underground connections to other communities (the dotted lines) which may facilitate shopping, health care and other necessary amenities.

5

The section above shows the what the pods and shaft spaces with the vegetation would look like. These areas will always have access to the outside environment and will allow light for the vegetation throughout the underground spaces, air for increased air quality and vegetation for those underground and those working in the car recycling centre to enjoy.

Obviously as the air shafts will move through the car recycling centre  the centre will need to be designed around these voids, still with maximum efficiency in mind. These vegetated voids will also improve air quality within the recycling centre and give the workers within 'natural' and interesting spaces to enjoy.

Image 1 + 2 + 3: http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=2530