Dean - Home Sweet Hole: A Folio of Feasible Fantasy Floor Plans

"Ina hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit..."

I am surely not the only reader who paused topaint J.R.R. Tolkien's marvelous scene in my mind--a setting so significantthat the story must begin there.

Homes are like that. Home is where our storybegins, no matter which roads we travel later. Home is the nurturing soil inwhich the seed of our life is rooted. No wonder the notion of a home in theground appeals to many.

Other cultures besides Hobbits have made theirhomes in "holes". A home nestled in the ground has severaladvantages. In many respects, an earthen home is a natural choice. At one withits environment, earth homes can last for centuries though they are almostcompletely recyclable. Indeed, no building materials are more readily availablethan rocks and soil. Soil is an excellent insulator. With sufficient cover, ahome that is burrowed or bermed can maintain near constant temperatures. Thetype of soil determines which building method is suitable--bricks, adobe, earthbags, rammed earth, cob or plaster--but the result in each case is ahand-crafted home with personalized charm. Besides, soil is literally"dirt cheap."

And then there's this: "less ismore". Less IS more. In a fast-paced world where many strive for homesthat are bigger, better, grander, what most of us really want is more time INour homes with the people we care about. There is that aspect of an earthenhome that is definitively stable. Ageless. It can be built at once or allowedto evolve over time, growing and changing in much the same way individuals andfamilies grow and change. A home such as this becomes an artistic expressionthat both depicts and predicts life.

The homes in this folio are "feasiblefantasy." Some plans are simple tunnels with barrel vaulted ceilings.Others are burrows whose irregular shape would require a reciprocal roof. Theapproximate square footage of interior space is provided to give a sense ofscale. I must emphasize, however, that they are intended for entertainment onlyand are not intended as construction drawings.