Earth Sheltered Salt Box. I was looking at the plans here and show the wife the salt box, and she liked it. My lot has good southern exposure, so the north facing wall would be the short wall and the extended wall would be south facing. It would be earth bermed on 3 sides. Seems to make some sense. Now to figure the roof pitch and such. Any thoughts.
my old fishing cabin is like the plan you have mentioned. The back wall, and half of the sides are bermed with the front exposed on the east, facing the lake. Back wall foundation and half sides are poured concrete with rebar, then the rest of sides and front wall are mortared foundation block. It has been here for years. I gutted the old place as it caved in after sitting vacant and neglected for 16 years, then rebuilt interior stud walls, interior siding, new raised sub-floor, etc. Ripped off all of the box-type flat roof, and replaced with new 4/12 trusses 24' wide. One issue with bermed places is moisture and humidity, but being in the woods and right on the lake raises my chances for that here, I suppose.
I, too, have considered that plan. The only thing that turned me off was the fact that I want my bedrooms on the bottom floor. If I were to do a two story with a berm, I would want my living area upstairs. The Saltbox didn't seem to provide the space I wanted. I think we will end up in a single story berm, maybe a 1 1/2 story at most.
With a saltbox the upper floor is about 1/2 the area of the lower floor. The 2-story design like the Universal cottage lends itself better to putting the main living areas above and sleeping below. The berming and solar storage in an insulated slab could still provide a pretty efficient package where good winter sun is available.