BEC: Austin - Designing for Underground Environments

In 2016 Clayton Korte was tasked with designing a wine cellar and tasting space in a previously excavated, 70 foot deep cave in the Hill Country of Texas. Subterranean spaces come with their own, distinct set of environmental challenges and opportunities; many of which are not addressed with typical building envelope strategies. This presentation will attempt to illustrate strategies and techniques that can be used to mitigate the challenges and leverage the opportunities of building underground. Questions that will be addressed are as follows: • In what ways can you preserve the benefits of a consistent ground temperature but mitigate the drawbacks of groundwater? • What building materials are appropriate for such an environment and how should they be used? • How can indoor air quality be addressed and in what ways do utilities get integrated into the design? • How do you design for resilience in underground environments?

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the environmental conditions of subterranean spaces.
2. Specify appropriate materials.
3. Identify appropriate strategies for water and humidity mitigation.
4. Understand the limits of conventional technology in unconventional environments.

1 LU (pending)

Presenter: Camden Greenlee, AIA