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Humanizing Underground Spaces

Underground structures are often overlooked despite their potential to address issues like land shortage. As populations grow and arable land decreases, developing underground spaces could help preserve land for agriculture and reduce urban sprawl. While underground areas are typically seen as dark and undesirable for living, humanizing these spaces through design could make them feel more like above-ground structures and encourage settlement. Connecting underground areas to the exterior and incorporating greenery and daylighting would enhance livability. Mandating certain activities like transportation or utilities to go underground could help plan cities in three dimensions and maximize use of limited urban land.

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Ritika Itoria
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5 views2 pages

Humanizing Underground Spaces

Underground structures are often overlooked despite their potential to address issues like land shortage. As populations grow and arable land decreases, developing underground spaces could help preserve land for agriculture and reduce urban sprawl. While underground areas are typically seen as dark and undesirable for living, humanizing these spaces through design could make them feel more like above-ground structures and encourage settlement. Connecting underground areas to the exterior and incorporating greenery and daylighting would enhance livability. Mandating certain activities like transportation or utilities to go underground could help plan cities in three dimensions and maximize use of limited urban land.

Uploaded by

Ritika Itoria
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERGROUND SPACES AND WAYS TO HUMANIZE THEM

Underground structures are the virtually unnoticed understudies of architecture. Due to the lackluster image of these structures, we totally overlook what can be done to enhance their demerits; diminishing their merits. As far as development is concerned, there is a reason behind any change happening and so has been in case of these structures. Gradually, with time different activities have been explored underground. Lately, land shortage has been the major problems and underground structures are one of the feasible solutions, very much unexplored. In India, considerable amount of our economy is dependent on agriculture. Lot of arable land is available and we cannot manage to loose it. Being one of the most populated countries, we need to think about the land use developments to save land for future. Cities are bursting with high population densities and developments, land being in shortage. Going underground will help us avoid deforestation and use the same urban land at different levels for different activities. History has shown us brilliant examples of underground habitats, but as architecture has moved on with time, image of underground still remains with the dark image of the caves. Hence, people still fear to go underground for habitation. More than the technical issues related to underground structure, people fear to live under the surface. In order to humanize underground, so much can be done to create a feel like any surface structure. Connecting underground structures more with exterior and making them livelier can help people to settle down there. After enhancing the quality of the underground last step is to make certain mandatory activities/ areas to go underground. A city should be planned in three dimensions with certain standard percentage of open areas, built up areas and the underground areas. Thus, underground structures are very much relevant to current problems and can possibly the solution. Architect Malcolm Wells said "The rules of life never change: People can't draw energy directly from sunlight. Plants can. Plants can't live underground. We can. It's as simple as that."

Ritika Itoria [Link], MSAP

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DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERGROUND SPACES AND WAYS TO HUMANIZE THEM

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