Here the home planning starts with creating a parabolic basement excavation about a hundred feet below ground level at its deepest point. It would be irregularly shaped (like most lakes are). Lake level would be about 30 to 50 feet below ground level. The size of the lake would be limited to how far the builder can span the ceiling without support. Lots and lots of special tubes in the ceiling will provide natural light over the lake & shore [link].
The lake would be stocked with trout & other yummy species. "Above Lake" refrigeration equipment could be employed to freeze the lake surface for family ice skating fun without freezing the fish.
Although it would provide a few extra architectural challenges, the lake could be made more attractive to certain migratory bird species, such as geese and ducks for the avid hunter. (This assumes the home is built along migratory routes [link].) Planting bird friendly grains around the secret entrances may help lure them in. (A large vacuum attachment to pull them in was considered but abandoned as a spectacularly bad idea during the product testing phase due to ongoing bird mortality issues...)
The house above would not be built over the underground lake; rather, it would be positioned over a beach area on one side.
Inspired by [theircompetitor]'s "Home Surf" idea [link].-- Grogster, Jul 09 2011 Natural Light Source http://www.ihomelin...epairtalk/sunscope/ [Grogster, Jul 09 2011] Inspiration... Home_20Surf [Grogster, Jul 09 2011] Go live in bermuda - no shortage of homes with underground lakes there http://www.bermuda-.../bermuda_000290.htm [DrCurry, Jul 09 2011] Migratory Routes http://www.npwrc.us...migratio/routes.htm [Grogster, Jul 09 2011] An Alternative For The Less Affluent... http://www.amazon.c...ading/dp/B001OC5YKO [Grogster, Jul 10 2011] You Challenge Me To Ze Beeg Duel? HAHA! It Is To Laugh! I Challenge YOU to Ze Beeg Duel!! http://www.youtube....watch?v=P16J0ejFToY [Grogster, Jul 10 2011] Having trouble visualizing how these migratory birds will find a lake one hundred feet below the ground, even with breadcrumbs. And if they do (hey, I've seen pigeons on the Underground and starlings in Walmart), how they'll ever find their way out again.
Even borrowing penguins don't dig that far.-- DrCurry, Jul 09 2011 Anyway, if you're that into palm trees and wildlife, I think the more interesting arrangement would be to put the house on the bottom and the lake on top.-- DrCurry, Jul 09 2011 The excavation needs to be 100 ft down to have a lake sufficiently deep. The actual surface of the lake is much higher... (but still below ground)-- Grogster, Jul 09 2011 Even assuming you don't mean that the surface of the lake is much higher than 100 feet, how does this differ from building a regular lake?-- DrCurry, Jul 09 2011 //The house above would not be built over the underground lake; rather, it would be positioned over a beach area on one side.//
so.... a beach-house ?-- FlyingToaster, Jul 09 2011 Hmmm, I suppose it would be a beach house of sorts [FT]... but the house is still above ground, and the beach and lake are still in the basement. The house above ground could even have a diving board. The casual observer some distance away would think the homeowner is taking a head first dive into the vegetable patch.
And, [DrCurry], //...how does this differ from building a regular lake?// ...it is EXACTLY like building a regular lake, except that the lake is below ground, unaffected by extremes of weather, and in an enclosed basement (albeit a humongous basement). And as far as living in Bermuda: I'm a Pacific Northwest guy... I don't wanna live in Bermuda or the Bahama's or Tierra del Fuego.-- Grogster, Jul 09 2011 //Even borrowing penguins don't dig that far// Well, with interest rates as low as they are, they can probably afford to go elsewhere.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jul 09 2011 Yep. In a basement.
And, as for your [link], I looked at that site as well while I was doing the research for this idea, but that's not the idea here. This is a private lake. In a basement. Any people other than the owner's family who are water skiing, jet boating, fishing, hunting, swimming, ice skating, (or whatever) in this lake are at the invitation of the owner.-- Grogster, Jul 10 2011 [21], you "take issue" with it?
<here's GROG imagining [21] whipping out his glove and taking a swipe [link]... hehehe!> You might have to drag over a chair to stand on, [21], I'm a pretty tall guy!
Can I assume, then, that you won't be dropping by for water skiing this winter? (I don't think I'll be trying his potato salad at the company picnic...)
The fact that it's not obtainable for very many people does not diminish the idea. For those of you who can't afford this colossal addition, might I suggest a wading pool [link]? As for where you place your house, you may put it wherever you please. I chose to put mine over the beach. Either way, it is still under the house.-- Grogster, Jul 10 2011 ...for the more financially challenged (myself) just turning all the taps on, and then going out for a bit. Upon my return I will find my very own basement pond.
Also retrofits to houses in Tewkesbury (currently being twinned with Atlantis) and anywhere else that has houses built on a flood plain that floods on a regular basis.
What would be neat is something in the basements of terraced housing, one very long pond, in the summer the birds could hang out in the cool place with water, in the winter it would make a long, skinny ice rink...-- not_morrison_rm, Jul 10 2011 what [21] said. This idea is "an indoor pool, only bigger" Withholding m-f-d because I'm feeling cowardly today.-- Voice, Jul 10 2011 heh- my basement aquires a *lake* every spring when the frost melts and the rains pour down!-- xandram, Jul 10 2011 //The fact that it's not obtainable for very many people does not diminish the idea.//
21 Quest is just jealous because his basement lake is full of diesel.-- Loris, Jul 10 2011 random, halfbakery