The opening passage of Tolkien's The Hobbit reads, "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat; it was a hobbit hole, and that means comfort."
I first read those words in the heady 60s, and at the time the building industry and the American worldview was far from ideas like passive solar, earth sheltering, or zero energy architecture. Bilbo's hole was odd and faerie-like, and I had no inkling of how current, even futuristic Tolkien's homey burrow would become.
To function as a cozy house, Bag End required an effective roof, partly of dry thatch(the porch roof), partly of green thatch, or sod. Rainfall was absorbed by the living sod roof and drained gently downhill toward the garden plants over a membrane of stone or cement, probably limed plaster (concrete featured nowhere in Tolkien's Middle Earth, not even in Saruman's dystopic industrial nightmare). Inside temperatures tended to settle at around 55 degrees, making active fireplaces a comfortable feature even in summer, at least in the kitchen where they were needed for cooking. Energy requirements were calculated, even in winter, against a tremendously reduced heat loss compared to a four-square above ground house of wood and stone.
The floor plan of Bilbo's place took into account that three sides of earth sheltering left only one for windows and doors. The foyer, den, parlor and dining rooms were situated up front so that visitors, sitting next to the windows, could feel comfortable and not cooped up. Bedrooms, baths, storage and private spaces were off a hall extending "fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill." The refinement of light wells and skylights is not required for the hobbit lifestyle. Chimneys shot straight up through the thatch, capped to discourage rainfall, cleared of thatch in fall and winter to prevent fires caused by sparks.
Generous eaves over "deep set" windows kept out rain and snow, and provided shade for the summer sun directly overhead. In winter, the sun's low, slanting rays entered the windows to light those front rooms, the hole doubtless being oriented to face south. The windows featured shutters which could be drawn against the weather and those pesky Black Riders if need be.
Light for late evenings was provided by candles and oil lamps, creating the need for ventilation without chilling drafts. The several chimneys, whether in use or not, provided a constant flow of fresh air pulled from the surrounding space, removing combustion by-products and biological smells of various types, including cooking odors. No use suffocating Mr. Baggins in his own house when we've already decided to send him off in pursuit of a dragon's hoard and the lethal hazards of trolls, spiders, xenophobic elves and the searing breath of Smaug.
No well is mentioned in Tolkien's tour of Bag End, but there were servants like Samwise Gamgee to draw water for cooking and baths, and it's pretty certain that Bilbo got by on much less than the 90 or so gallons of water per day that a modern American needs to live comfortably. Vegetables and flowers shared the nurture of the green thatch roof and the surrounding plantings. No livestock appeared at all, though I suspect that Heidi's goats could have grazed up there on the roof for most of the year without causing any trouble. Green thatch requires some tending, but not much, to stay vital.
Tolkien was only invoking the long history of European rustic architecture, nearly a thousand years in the making by the time he was crafting Bilbo's burrow in the early 20th century. The basics of earth sheltered living are not at all new. The technology of earth sheltered living is a rapidly progressing project designed to furnish a below-ground house with the much desired features of the American lifestyle. More on that next time. Fancy a pipe on the porch? Smoking in Middle Earth is, I read, not bad for you at all.
I first read those words in the heady 60s, and at the time the building industry and the American worldview was far from ideas like passive solar, earth sheltering, or zero energy architecture. Bilbo's hole was odd and faerie-like, and I had no inkling of how current, even futuristic Tolkien's homey burrow would become.
To function as a cozy house, Bag End required an effective roof, partly of dry thatch(the porch roof), partly of green thatch, or sod. Rainfall was absorbed by the living sod roof and drained gently downhill toward the garden plants over a membrane of stone or cement, probably limed plaster (concrete featured nowhere in Tolkien's Middle Earth, not even in Saruman's dystopic industrial nightmare). Inside temperatures tended to settle at around 55 degrees, making active fireplaces a comfortable feature even in summer, at least in the kitchen where they were needed for cooking. Energy requirements were calculated, even in winter, against a tremendously reduced heat loss compared to a four-square above ground house of wood and stone.
The floor plan of Bilbo's place took into account that three sides of earth sheltering left only one for windows and doors. The foyer, den, parlor and dining rooms were situated up front so that visitors, sitting next to the windows, could feel comfortable and not cooped up. Bedrooms, baths, storage and private spaces were off a hall extending "fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill." The refinement of light wells and skylights is not required for the hobbit lifestyle. Chimneys shot straight up through the thatch, capped to discourage rainfall, cleared of thatch in fall and winter to prevent fires caused by sparks.
Generous eaves over "deep set" windows kept out rain and snow, and provided shade for the summer sun directly overhead. In winter, the sun's low, slanting rays entered the windows to light those front rooms, the hole doubtless being oriented to face south. The windows featured shutters which could be drawn against the weather and those pesky Black Riders if need be.
Light for late evenings was provided by candles and oil lamps, creating the need for ventilation without chilling drafts. The several chimneys, whether in use or not, provided a constant flow of fresh air pulled from the surrounding space, removing combustion by-products and biological smells of various types, including cooking odors. No use suffocating Mr. Baggins in his own house when we've already decided to send him off in pursuit of a dragon's hoard and the lethal hazards of trolls, spiders, xenophobic elves and the searing breath of Smaug.
No well is mentioned in Tolkien's tour of Bag End, but there were servants like Samwise Gamgee to draw water for cooking and baths, and it's pretty certain that Bilbo got by on much less than the 90 or so gallons of water per day that a modern American needs to live comfortably. Vegetables and flowers shared the nurture of the green thatch roof and the surrounding plantings. No livestock appeared at all, though I suspect that Heidi's goats could have grazed up there on the roof for most of the year without causing any trouble. Green thatch requires some tending, but not much, to stay vital.
Tolkien was only invoking the long history of European rustic architecture, nearly a thousand years in the making by the time he was crafting Bilbo's burrow in the early 20th century. The basics of earth sheltered living are not at all new. The technology of earth sheltered living is a rapidly progressing project designed to furnish a below-ground house with the much desired features of the American lifestyle. More on that next time. Fancy a pipe on the porch? Smoking in Middle Earth is, I read, not bad for you at all.
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