An Ecological Study on Earth Sheltered Housing in Different Climates

The purpose of this thesis was to illustrate the potential of the earth sheltered housing related to integration to the topography from the ecological viewpoint and sustainable holistic approach when they are applied to the different climatic regions. Problems that modern world is currently faced with, includes the excessive consumption of non- renewable energy sources, environmental pollution and depletion of natural landscape and topography because of negative impacts of human activities. In this context, the role of conventional buildings particularly housing as a major source of energy consumption and polluting the environment is more than other building types. Therefore, earth sheltered housing is pointed out as a significant alternative to above ground housing due to decrease the environmental footprint and energy consumption. This research incorporates an analysis of earth sheltered houses in various climatic conditions by including the ecological potential of earth sheltered architecture such as building materials, daylighting and topography. The methodology of this research is applied through the comparison analysis via documents. As a result, minimum environmental footprint, energy saving and natural landscape preservation are significant advantages of earth sheltered houses in order to promote the life quality with an approach to ecological architecture. Keywords: Earth sheltered houses, ecological architecture, climate, daylight, building materials