We’ve found the Shire (no, not that one), and it exists in Switzerland. Just looking at these houses, built by Peter Vetsch, hidden in the Earth, makes you think of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
The Earth Houses are located in Dietikon, Switzerland, and they’re built to focus on being energy efficient. Because the homes are built into the mounds of earth, they have natural insulation that “allows them to use only a third of the energy a normal home would consume”. The goal in creating these homes was “not putting a box on top of nature but making the architecture subordinate to nature, integrated”.
But, like, Shire awesomeness and eco-friendliness aside, how are they as homes? They look great! There are nine homes built like this with models ranging from three bedrooms to seven bedrooms. There’s also an artificial lake and a subterranean parking lot — as if living inside Mother Nature wasn’t enough, right. Check out the house, a modernist Shire:
Looks like a nose! Check out more pictures at My Modern Met. [Vetsch Architektur via My Modern Met]