Talks to Watch

Earth-cooled, shipping container underground CA home for 30K

3.7M views · Apr 18, 2016 · 14:14 · 2 HN recommenders · 3 mentions · discussed 2018–2021

Kirsten Dirksen profiles Steve Rees, who buried two shipping containers to build an earth-cooled, off-grid 640 sq ft home in Northern California for about $30,000, solar included.

Why Hacker News points people here: Recommended as an example of earth-sheltered housing and as part of a channel HN loves for architecture and efficiency.

“I can't recommend Kirsten Dirksen's channel enough to people interested in architecture, energy efficiency, tiny homes”HN comment, 2019

What Hacker News said 3

Strongly recommendscwkossJun 2019

“I can't recommend Kirsten Dirksen's channel enough to people interested in architecture, energy efficiency, tiny homes”

Earth-cooled container home among favorites from a prolific architecture channel.

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I can't recommend Kirsten Dirksen's channel enough to people interested in architecture, energy efficiency, tiny homes, 'green' construction, etc. Literally hundreds of hours of high-quality content - I'm really curious how she is able to find all of these interesting people who are doing such cool things. Channel: link Some other favorites: Baubotanik shapes living tree branches into building facades - link Boeing retiree finds meaning inventing micro homes & high speed trikes - link Extreme transformer home in Hong Kong: Gary Chang's 24 rooms in 1 - link Earth-cooled, shipping container underground CA home for 30K - this video Yokohama narrow tiny house "breathes" & attracts local nature - link

in “Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home” · view on HN
Recommendsjay-andersonAug 2018

“Earth sheltered homes seems like a great way to do that”

Example of an earth-cooled underground home.

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I live in the desert as well. I'd love to have a house with better insulation to spend less on AC. Earth sheltered homes seems like a great way to do that (though there are other problems - e.g. moisture, heavier roof). this video , link - here's a couple examples (she has visited others as well. Short of that I'd settle for a basement. Someday perhaps.

in “An office building in Seattle that doesn't have air conditioning” · view on HN
Cites itgremlinsincDec 2021

Similar shipping container home example.

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I think they had someone w/ some engineering skill do it, so it was structurally sound and all... I'm not sure if this is the exact same one I saw, but it's similar enough... this video

in “Ask HN: Tiny Home for $5k USD?” · view on HN