Good morning. In the last few lectures I've been talking about the history of domestic building construction. But today, I want to begin looking at some contemporary, experimental designs for housing. So, I'm going to start with a house, which is constructed more or less under the ground. And one of the interesting things about this project is that the owners wanted to be closely involved, so they decided to manage the project themselves. (20) Their chief aim was to create somewhere that was as environmentally-friendly as possible. But at the same time, they wanted to live somewhere peaceful-they'd both grown up in a rural area and disliked urban life. So they found a disused stone quarry in a beautiful area. The price was relatively low, and they liked the idea of recycling the land, as it were. They consulted various architects and looked at a number of designs before finally deciding on one. As I've said, it was a design for a sort of underground house, and it was built into the earth itself, with two storeys. (21) The north, east and west sides were set in the earth, and only the sloping, south-facing side was exposed to light.That was made of a double layer of very strong glass. Sunlight floods in through the glass wall, and to maximize it, there are lots of mirrors and windows inside the house. That helps to spread the light around. So that's the first thing-light is utilized as fully as possible. In addition, the special tiles on the outside convert energy from the sun and generate some of the house's electricity. As well as that, wherever possible, recycled materials have been used. For example, the floors are made of
reclaimed wood. And then there's the system for dealing with the waste produced in the house. (22) It's true that the actual construction of the house was harmful to the environment, mainly because they had to use massive amounts of concrete-one of the biggest sources of carbon dioxide in manufacturing. However, once the initial "debt" has been cleared and it's been calculated that this will only take fifteen years, this underground house won't cost anything because unlike ordinary houses, it is run in a way that is completely environmentally-friendly. So, eco-housing like this is likely to become much more.
What is the owners' chief aim of their project?