UNDERHouse, a project by Paul Coudamy explores an original underground architecture in response to some constraints and common themes of the urban landscape: a small area of land, a house that takes up the greater part of the plot and “vis-à-vis”. The natural light penetrates the volumes from the ground to the lower floors.
The windows play an important role, favouring an intimate, hidden space in which the inhabitants live in tune with the sky, clouds and stars. The ground surface – the roof of the house- is free and lively, it has ducts that pierce the surface of the garden and penetrate the volumes down to the lower floor providing natural light to the bedrooms, the living room and the bathroom. The light ducts, covered by a glass lens, are lined with systems for reflection making the most of natural lighting throughout the day.
This concept represents a high performace eco-sustainable habitat typology: it hides 5 sides of the building, the green “roof” ensures a good insulation ad optimizes sun light.
