Engineer Fortifies Mountain With 30 cm Concrete to Build Zero-Cost Underground Home
The Ozark Mountains in the state of Missouri, USA, are home to an engineering feat that breaks the mold. Conway, a former soldier and mining engineer, purchased a 225-acre plot of land in 1970 and proceeded to carve into the slopes as if they were a mine, constructing a reinforced concrete house underground. Built entirely by his own means without the help of an architect or outside assistance, this colossal structure still stands firm and draws attention, even after half a century.
In the past, Conway, who served in the Titan II missile silos of the US Air Force and later worked as an engineer in the lead mining industry, adopted a philosophy of living in harmony with nature rather than overpowering it.
Breaking away from traditional methods, the engineer who carved out the mountain armored the structure with 30 centimeters thick steel-reinforced concrete. The house, covered with meters of soil and deliberately made to resemble the mouth of a cave, has giant glass walls that provide natural light to the underground space.
One of the most captivating features of the house is its passive climate design, which eliminates the dependency on traditional heating and cooling systems. The external air entering from a shaft a few meters away from the house, travels through the soil to reach the interior. Thanks to the thermal mass of the soil, the air naturally cools in the summer and warms in the winter.
The property of the eccentric engineer, who passed away in 2018, resembles nothing less than a museum of inventions.
The property houses not only an underground home, but also a railway wagon weighing 58,000 pounds (approximately 26 tons) that was moved with cranes, and an airboat he crafted himself with a Cessna airplane engine.
Zane Conway, who spent his childhood in this underground home, is now preserving this extraordinary legacy left by his father by restoring it room by room. Zane, who helped his father during the construction of the house, states, 'This place is not just an architectural curiosity, it's my home. I continue to uphold my father's vision of fostering a symbiotic relationship with nature.'
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