Underground Architecture in Arid and Semi-arid Regions--Awareness after Visiting Australia's Coober Pedy Mining City

In the 20th century, when I studied underground architecture, through the literature, I know Australia's Coober Pedy Opal Mining City has a famous underground architecture. 2005, I took advantage of the opportunity to visit his family in Sydney, Australia, specially selected to go to the so-called "Dangerous Road" of the desert in central Australia, the big rocky tourist route, the route to visit the Opal Mining City's underground architecture is the focus of the content of my professional sensitivity. Route to visit the Australian treasure mining city of underground construction is the focus of content, I professionally sensitive, in a very short period of time, to obtain some information and photographs, combined with my experience in researching the loess underground construction, made the following introduction for the reader's reference.

Coober Pedy is located in the south-central part of Australia, belonging to South Australia, 960km north of Adelaide, the state capital. Precipitation is scarce, with an annual average of only 141mm, and the temperature ranges from 0 to 47℃, sometimes as high as 50℃ or more, and the earth is a desert landscape, bare and unsuitable for cultivation. The deposit was discovered in 1915, which means that only at this time did people arrive and live there, and it is only 90 years old now. Here underground buildings are formed with the development of the mining industry, the beginning of mining, miners feel that the underground space, not only can withstand the harsh arid climate, but also save the ground construction of the huge consumption, the waste mine hole as living space, and later with the expansion of the scale of mining, the number of personnel increased, the need for industrial and civil construction has increased accordingly, so the mining stratum as the construction of underground buildings, space. So formed the famous underground mining city with stores, restaurants, lecture halls, residences, churches, etc. From some of the photos I took (photos 1 to 10), you can see the dots. According to the guide, the mining town now has 4,500 people, 80% of whom live underground, which is not a small percentage. Underground buildings are built in the sedimentary layer, its lithology is sandy semi-rock, the structure is more homogeneous, less fissures, I have seen are unlined underground space, in the walls and the roof of the cave are coated with paint, in order to prevent the water and geotechnical spalling, due to the industrialization of the mining city, modernization and urbanization is a synchronous product, the interior has a full range of modern facilities, such as water, electricity, gas and other supplies, the production and living environment is comfortable. After viewing I think that the underground construction of the mining city is in a specific location or territory, in the recognition of nature, conformity to nature, and thus the use of nature, which is wise, avoiding the unfavorable arid climate, the use of favorable strata, saving a large amount of energy and resources, in line with the requirements of sustainable development, these underground construction of the good experience, it is worthwhile to learn.

The following combination of China's loess underground construction, talk about some views. China's loess kiln caves (underground construction) is world-famous. In the 1980s, many world-renowned architectural scholars have traveled to China to study the ancient experience in this area. Our ancestors dug holes and lived in the northern loess area since the cave age. With the development of productive forces, the loess kilns were greatly developed during the farming period because farming had a cultivation radius and villages were scattered until today, thousands of years later, there are loess kilns everywhere in the Loess Plateau, which are still the homes of tens of millions of people. The reason is that it follows the nature, the use of loess geomorphology, stratum, lithology and other characteristics, living in the winter warm summer cool kiln, and energy-saving, material-saving, land-saving. 1960s to 1970s, we have from the needs of industry, drawing on the experience of the loess kiln as a residential area, through the experimental research, expanding the use of space, and the results are also very good. However, from the point of view of socio-economic development, many of our residential loess kiln caves are still in the era of farming, unlike the underground buildings of Opal Mining City which is a contemporaneous product of industrialization, modernization and urbanization, with complete production and living facilities inside the caves and a comfortable environment. And China's residential loess kiln caves have not yet marked modern production, living conditions of water, electricity, gas, etc., the cave body decoration is also few industrial products, appearing to be somewhat simple and inconvenient. Need to catch up with the stage of development and modernization. With the acceleration of China's modernization, it is not difficult to solve. However, at present, in the Loess Plateau, some of the first rich people only see the kiln's temporary simplicity and inconvenience, coupled with the traditional "cold kiln" concepts, that the poor only live in the kiln, coupled with the general living in a brick house and a small building is rich, stylish and honorable thinking, so that these people often abandoned the kiln in the vicinity of the building of ground-level buildings, wasting a lot of energy and resources, and the construction of the ground level, and the construction of the kiln. Waste a lot of energy, resources, and sustainable development is contrary to the relevant parties should be caused to pay attention to and correct. Once the reason is understood, it is good to govern. The material ones use material methods, such as the decoration of the cave body and the supply of water, electricity, gas and other materials; the spiritual ones should use cultural and policy methods. Now, the scientific development of the people, energy saving and emission reduction tasks urgent, livelihood projects on the agenda, I believe that the full use of natural conditions, with low-carbon, green loess underground construction (kiln), will be well developed.

References

Gi. Gorani (US), translated by Xia Yun. Bunker Building (65). Beijing: China Industrial Press, July 1987

(This article was written on November 19, 2010)

Photo 1 Distant view of the underground building inlet

Photo 2 Close view of the underground building inlet

Photo 3 Passageway to the underground store

Photo 4 Underground store

Photo 5 Front of the underground report room

Photo 6 Back of underground lecture hall

Photo 7 Underground passageway and exhibition

Photo 8 Underground parlor

Photo 9 Underground bedroom

Photo 10 Underground study