Resilient Home to Live in the Desert

Ever since the 1960's, the world population has exploded. In 60 years, the world has gained around 5 billion people. Many people live in cramped, packed homes due to financial circumstances or limited availability of housing. The cost of housing has risen to over double in some areas within 20 years. This is due to the availability of land shrinking, as too many people live in the current established neighborhoods and cities. One of the main reasons people want to occupy these specific areas of land is due to the harshness of other biomes. Another thing to note is that around 33% of the world's land is desert, which is mostly un-habitable due to the harsh conditions. Although people try to embrace this environment, only 12.5% of the global population lives in deserts. For instance, 1% of the US population lives in its deserts, which take up 25% of the country's landmass. For those who do live in deserts, maintaining comfort in harsh temperatures is always a challenge. That's why I created this house to solve these problems. This house is built with physical and mental health in mind, while also being realistic, easy to make, and resilient to the harsh environment of the desert.

The desert is known to be one of the most harsh (if not the harshest) environments in the world. It is so harsh in fact, that many space programs use it to simulate other worlds for testing purposes. There's barely any water in the desert due to it raining at a maximum of 10 inches per year. And even if that rare occurrence happens, the evaporation of the desert overpowers it, leaving it a dry wasteland. The temperature can reach up to 38 C (or over 100 F) during the day and can drop to -3.9 C (25 F) at night. The air is dry and the indoor air quality is typically low. This leads to there being nearly no plant life, making it hard to live there. While plants, water, wood for building, and other necessary materials can be imported, it is costly, discouraging most people from moving there. And, although there is a lack of plant life, there is an abundance of animals, which are mostly not farmable and dangerous. Some examples are rattlesnakes, scorpions, cougars, tarantulas, and coral snakes to name a few. All these factors combine make living in the desert nearly impossible. Fortunately, this house can help solve most of these challenges.

This house is a big project, so you will need a lot of supplies:

• A flat desert environment (preferably near a place for a well)
• Heavy-duty digging equipment
• Various construction equipment
• Concrete
• Steel
• Drywall
• Linoleum
• Ceramic
• Piping
• Various kinds of flooring
• Lighting
• Filters
• Solar Panels
• Thermoelectric Generators (TEGs)

For the physical model:

• 3D printer
• Filament
• Cardboard
• Paint
• Sand
• Glue and Tape

To start, we need to find a good location in the desert. While the house is resilient, it does require some things. This is mainly flat land, but also access to a desert well. The design does not entirely require the well, but it is a good thing to have. In land size, you will need around a 150 by 150-foot area, around half an acre. In that plot, dig out a 50 by 50 foot area, 60 feet deep. The reason we need to dig is so we can put the living quarters underground. This is because of the multiple benefits of being underground. One benefit is the safety from floods. Now, although deserts are really dry, floods are not impossible. Dry ground is especially dangerous when combined with heavy rainfall, as the ground cannot absorb the rainwater, leading it to pile up and flood. Being 60 feet underground is good in this scenario, as the residents don't have to worry about the water getting to their homes. This is because the entrances of the home are watertight. Even if water does get into the home, there are multiple exits and emergency exits for the residents to evacuate with. It can also protect against other natural disasters such as sandstorms, hurricanes, tornados, thunderstorms, and more. Another set of reasons that the living quarters are underground is because of the same reasons the natural wildlife of the desert do it. Many animals burrow underground for a multitude of reasons: It keeps them cool yet warm, it is easier to dig an area for a home than to create a structure for it(nests), and it keeps them safe from predators(in this case animals can't sneak into your home). According to certain sources, houses underground can have a natural temperature between 45°F and 75°F. These are perfect living conditions for people, especially compared to the scorching heat above ground, or the freezing temperatures at night. Despite common beliefs, living underground can also have some positive mental health benefits. One of these benefits is being close to nature. Living beneath the earth can give people a stronger connection to nature, which creates calmness and peace in people. Another benefit is the lack of noise pollution. While most residential areas have an average sound of 60 decibels, the earth creates nearly no audible noises, which can lead to better sleep and focus. Speaking of sleep, the lack of exterior lights and light pollution can lead to better sleep.

The living quarters are designed to include every apparatus a normal house needs and more. The entry of the house is on the left, where the stairs (marked with cyan) and the elevator (marked with navy blue) meet in a chamber where there is a water-tight door (pink/red) that can be closed for safety or left open for ambiance. Then, as you walk down the hallway, you can see the greenhouse (green) through a window, where all of the vegetarian food is grown for this home. Further along, you can see the water filtration room(red) where the water supply is filtered and monitored. Next, there is 1 of 2 bathrooms at the end of the hall (brown) with water-saving technology(more on that later). After that, there is a fusion kitchen and den (orange) on the left side of the hall. Next to that is the gym (gray), which is used to maintain good health. Then, there is another set of stairs next to it (cyan). Then across the hall is an electrical room (yellow) where energy can be monitored. Finally, there is the last hall, which is made up of four extra rooms that can be used for bedrooms, offices, and more. At the end of that hall, there is an emergency escape hatch.

However, living in a underground structure can have adverse effects on the mental health of its inhabitants. Additionally, there are things like Vitamin D and circadian rhythms that the sun provides that can't be accessed if the residents are underground. To fix this, the house will have two additions. The first is screens that act as artificial windows. This gives the impression of living in an above-ground home. These screens could correspond with the weather and time above ground, but they don't need to be, in case the residents want a change from the hot sunny days the desert provides. They will also get dark at the right times so that the circadian rhythm is not interrupted. In addition, the Mere-Exposure effect states that the more someone is exposed to something, the more they will like it and understand it. So, while the windows may take some getting used to, they will eventually provide a benefit. As a second addition to combat the adverse effects of life underground, special sun-mimicing bulbs are installed thoughout the habitat. What these bulbs do is emit UVB, the untraviolet light emitted by the sun, which helps your body create Vitamin D.

Material-wise, all of the rooms will be built with a shell of stainless steel panels for the interior, and then will be surrounded by concrete. There are plenty of reasons as to why the living quarters are built with these materials. To start, sheet metal has many benefits including being inexpensive (around $5 USD per square foot), lightweight, and easy to install. It has strong properties and is very strong against erosion. Concrete is easy to install, requires low maintenance, and has high water resistance. But, one of the best features is that it is very temperature resistant, preventing heat from up to 910 degrees F from passing through it. But, because steel sheets as walls make it hard to enjoy a home, all of the walls will be covered up with drywall for comfort and the ability to hang things. The walls will be painted a calm blue color, as blue helps mental health by making people feel calm and peaceful, and promotes serenity. This is because the color is similar to other calming things, like the sky, ocean, rivers, and more. The brain makes a connection to this when seeing blue and makes us calm. On the surface, the home appears to just be a garage and storage unit. But, these come with special features to beat the harshness of the desert. The first is the exterior made of mirrors, which deflect most of the heat and allow the garage to be cooler so that cars don't have as many problems overheating. The second is quick access to the two sets of stairs and the elevator so that you can easily make trips from the car without having to go outside. Then, to use all the space efficiently, the roof is covered with solar panels to get extra electricity. The exit of the escape hatch is close to the left of the garage and driveway, which gives you quick access to the road in case of an emergency. Finally, the driveway is made with asphalt, which is low maintenance, easy to see, and will not blow away in the high desert winds. As you can see, I used the Autodesk software called Fusion.

One of the reasons people don't live in the desert is the lack of energy. It is hard to make electrical poles and install other energy-transporting devices. Even if there are some, the prices are high due to demand and lack of other options. However, the design of this home takes this into account. It uses three different forms of energy collection to make an excess of energy. The first kind is solar. There are 5 main solar panels and 2 other panels mounted on the roof. Because each panel is comprised of 2 smaller solar panels, there is a total of 14 panels. Each solar pannel has 704 cells, which is a lot considering the power they can generate. This means that the solar pannels can generate close to 98 kHw. Considering the average U.S. household uses at most 2000 kWh per month, this should easily cover the needed electricity. Additionally, the extra power can be stored in batteries and sold for extra income, which can cover more utilities. Inside the electric room, there are 10 solar batteries, each being able to store 10 kWh, meaning a total of 100 kWh can be stored. And because 1 kWh can sell for around 21 cents in some states, full storage can sell for close to $20. So this is pretty solid passive income, which also doesn't have to go to the electricty bill. However, the solar panels do require maintenance. They need to be cleaned frequently, especially due to the desert conditions. Sand will likely cover the panels and require monthly cleaning. But other than that, they should generate enough electricity to keep the home sustained and generate some passive income as well.

Another way that the house generates electricity is themo-electric generators(TEG). These electric generators can convert heat into usable electricity. This is perfect, considering there is no shortage of heat in the desert. The average TEG has a 7.5% efficiency rate. This means that the TEG will create 7.5 watts of usable energy for 100 watts of heat the sun gives off. These statistics are for a TEG that is 40 mm by 40 mm. The TEG array on the surface of the home is around a 60 ft by 20 ft area, and a bigger one with a 75 ft by 20 ft area. This will generate losts of power per day. This power can also be stored in the electric room in batteries similar to that of solar batteries. Then, the electricity can also be sold, making a lot of passive income. But, like the solar panels, they do require some maintenance. To start, there can't be too much sand on top of the TEGs, as their efficiency goes down when sand covers it up and cools it. The TEGs also require a water block to rest on to prevent them from overheating. Of course, water is hard to get in the desert, so we can use heat sinks. The heat sinks do require maintenance, which involves cleaning and dusting them monthly. Finally, a TEG can last around 100,000 hours. This may seem like a lot, but it's only around 11 years. This means that the residents will need to replace them nearly every decade. While this seems inconvenient, the extra electricity sales from both the solar panels and TEGs should cover it.

One of the most scarce resources in the desert is water. This is the main factor that discourages people from living there. So, to be resilient, this home needs to be able to produce drinkable water. Obviously, for the standard of living to be good for the residents, the house should be connected to a well. But, there are not that many wells in the desert, so the house may need imported water to begin with, but must be able to sustain its own supply. But you don't need new water that often, as all of the water in the house that is used is recycled. To start, the water is separated into two uses: drinking water and non-drinking water. Depending on where the water comes from, it will be filtered differently. For example, water from the kitchen sink, washing machine, and dishwasher has relatively fewer contaminants than other sources and can be more reliable physically as drinking water. On the other hand, more dirty sources of water such as hand washing, showering, excess from the greenhouse, and the restroom will be recycled into the water for things that require non-drinkable water. The non-drinkable water will start its filtration process using reverse osmosis. How reverse osmosis works is it uses heavy filters to purify water. The process starts with the mechanism using pressure to force the water through a semipermeable membrane. The pressure applied during this step creates a concentration gradient. Water molecules move from the more concentrated side (contaminated water) to the less concentrated side (purified water) through the membrane. When the water is pushed through, it creates a stream of treated water called "permeate" and a stream of rejected water called "concentrate" or "brine". Then, to prevent fouling and maintain membrane efficiency, periodic flushing or backwashing occurs. This helps remove accumulated impurities from the membrane surface. Finally, the permeate is stored, and the concentrate/brine is recycled back through the reverse osmosis system. The reverse osmosis system removes 99.99% of containments in the water. For the house, these systems will cost around $8,000 USD to install and will require a $1,200 yearly upkeep fee. Fortunately, the excess power should be able to cover this cost. For the reverse osmosis system in the house, there will be two: The first one is for the non-drinking water, which will be less intense and more cost-effective to run and maintain. The second one is for drinking water, which is a more thorough and longer process. In the water storage room, the two kinds of water are separated into their respective tanks. The first tank has a radius of 10 feet and is 9 feet tall, allowing it being able to hold 5284.987 gallons. The first tank is for non-drinkable water. The second tank is a little smaller having a diameter of 3.5 feet, and the same height. This results in a tank that can hold 1902.595 gallons. Both these tanks exceeded well over the daily amount of water the average household uses(300 gallons). But, this is a lot of water to have in storage. That's why the water from the non-drinkable tank will be cycled through cooling systems to cool the solar panels. According to Palmetto Solar, solar panels can lose 0.35% of their efficiency for every degree Fahrenheit above 77 degrees. Since the desert can easily reach up to over 100 degrees, the panels could be 8.05% less efficient. To fix this, there will be a water cooling system that functions in the same way as a closed-loop system(similar to water cooling in computers). How this works is that the water is run through pipes(after being cooled) that go through and around the solar panels. This dissipates the heat that the sun causes and returns the water to the tank after it is used. This is more sustainable than most solar system cooling systems, as those systems just spray water on the panels, which wastes a lot of it due to the water either falling off the panel or evaporating. This process efficiently uses the water and cools the solar panels without losing water or money, making the home even more sustainable. Overall, the water recycling system is one of the factors that make it truly a resilient home.

The other factor that prevents people from living in the desert is food. Like water, food(other than beef from cattle, which is still hard to get) is hard to grow and expensive to import. To fix this, the house comes with a greenhouse. The greenhouse in the photo is a design that should make enough food for 2-3 people. The greenhouse can be customized to grow other foods and at a higher capacity to grow more food for more people. The current greenhouse has multiple features. The first is a shelf where the residents can grow microgreens. Microgreens are young, edible plants harvested at an early stage of growth, typically within 7 to 21 days after germination. The best microgreens have the fastest growth time while also having the most nutritional composition is arugula, which is the best option to grow. Some other fast-growing microgreens that the residents can also grow are radishes, broccoli, and amaranth. The far side of the wall holds the growing area for the other plants. The size of the areas can be increased for the amount of people, and this is just a model. That aside, the base greenhouse has 4 planters that multiple kinds of plants can grow in. The best plants for the residents to grow are herbs, cruciferous vegetables, tomatoes, peppers, and leafy vegetables. These are because they provide more nutrition than other plants. The planters are each equipped with automatic sprinklers and a water collection system to save the water the plants don't take. In addition, the room has a window near the plants that allows you to view the plants when walking through the main hall and a desk where residents can sit and log information about the plants. The final important thing in the room is the compost bin, which we'll discuss in the next step. Another resource plants need is sunlight, which growth lights in the greenhouse can imitate. In conclusion, the greenhouse is a staple of the resiliency of the home and one of the most important factors in making the desert livable.

One of the reasons that food is so hard to get in the first place is because of the lack of soil and fertilizer. Fortunately, the house can create strong and reliable fertilizer that is directly pumped into the room, in the box near the shelf. The start of this process starts in the bathroom. After flushing using minimal water and compressed air, the stool and urine are separated through many filters, where the liquid goes through reverse osmosis and is stored in a tank, which will be to water the plants. The solids stay in the filters for one hour, until they empty and move into a tank. In this tank, the solids are baked at 180 degrees and then mixed with dry, natural materials such as dead leaves, soft sticks, cacti, and other kinds of substances which are deposited in the hallway. Then, it is all mixed, moved to the compost box in the greenhouse, and then rehydrated a little. This process creates incredible fertilizer for the plants, as it is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus.

Now, all of this may be hard to conceptualize. This is why I've prepared a miniature, accurate physical model. To make this model, I started by 3D printing the model using my printer. To start, I excluded printing the ground and energy systems from the model. After printing it, I painted the underground quarters to be similar to concrete, and painted the top to have a separate colored garage(I printed using silver-colored silk PLA, so I didn't have to paint the mirrors). After that, I cut out cardboard to make the ground, TEGs, and solar panels that are on the ground. I then printed out solar panel textures(on a regular printer) and taped them to the cardboard, and painted the cardboard for the TEGs silver. Then, after attaching all of the solar panels and TEGs to the ground, I glued the top of the house to the top of the cardboard (that's the ground), and the underground living quarters to the bottom. Then, I painted the driveway onto the ground. Finally, I covered the top of the ground with sand and had a physical replica.

Before we finish, I want to answer the required questions specifically:

What if extreme environment habitats embraced their unique surroundings to enhance human well-being?

If habitats for extreme environments embraced their surroundings to enhance human well-being, I think it would create an overall positive outcome. If the habitats used their unique surroundings, it could lead to new ways of living, new conservational technology, and the termination of housing crises. It could also allow for people to be in new places and see new things, further benefiting nearly everyone. Overall, I think it would be a good thing if extreme environment habitats embraced their unique surroundings, as it leads to great benefits.

What did you learn through this process that you could apply to address a problem of the built environment in your community?

One problem in my community is the problem with water. I also live in a desert biome, so water is more scarce and expensive. Despite this many people in my community still waste water. So, I feel if houses used a similar water recycling system as I did, a lot of worries about saving water and worry about droughts would go away.

To conclude, the desert isn't the most welcoming environment. The temperature, wildlife, lack of water, farmable plant life, and more make it such a hostile environment. Many people refuse to live there, which can lead to housing crises and competitive housing. People won't see the beauty of the desert, or discover any of its mysteries. But, humanity has persevered through problems before. We didn't let the vastness of the sea prevent us from crossing continents, we didn't let diseases triumph over us, and we didn't get discouraged by the difficulty of reaching space. And, we were able to do all of this by not giving up and being resilient, which helped humanity progress further. So by being resilient, and venturing into the harsh world like the resilient homes, we can all truly benefit.