Entrance to underground house in Coober Pedy, Australia
In the heart of the arid Australian interior lies the small town of Coober Pedy, where living underground is not just a curiosity, but a true way of life.
As the world faces rising temperatures and extreme weather events due to climate change, the unique lifestyle of people living in Coober Pedy offers intriguing lessons for the future of human habitation.
Situated 848 km north of Adelaide, Coober Pedy is easily recognized for its unusual landscape: mounds of pale earth, scattered across the salmon-colored desert, dotted with white ventilation pipes emerging from the ground.
These are signs that reveal the existence of houses, churches and even campsites. built beneath the surface of the earth.
With a population of around 2,500 people, around 60% two residents de Coober Pedy live in these underground sheltersexcavated in the sandstone and soft sedimentary rocks of the region.
The city was founded in 1915, to welcome the miners who explored the enormous opal veins of the region — one of the largest deposits of this precious stone in the world.
In the 1960s and 70s, residents began to expand their homes — and building new homes — in the same way they created the opal mines: using shovels, pickaxes and explosives.
The reason for this underground lifestyle is simple: survival. In summer, temperatures often exceed 50°Cmaking life on the surface practically impossible without the use of expensive air conditioning systems.
On the contrary, underground houses maintain a constant temperature and comfortable to 23°C throughout the yearregardless of the scorching heat outside or the cold winter nights.
It is passive cooling Not only is it energy efficient, it is also economicespecially in a location where electricity is mostly generated from wind and solar energy.
The underground architecture of Coober Pedy It’s not a new idea.
For millennia, human beings seek refuge underground to escape harsh climates—of ancient Cappadocian troglodyte complexesin Türkiye, where entire cities like Derinkuyu were built below ground, as far as , in Jordan.
The underground spaces provide stable temperatures and protection against extreme weather conditions — a principle still valued today.
Building underground shelters in Coober Pedy is relatively simple, thanks to the sandstone soft but stable, which can be excavated manually or using machinery.
O affordable price of houses is another attraction factor: a basic three-bedroom shelter can cost as little as 40 thousand Australian dollars (about 22 thousand euros), a fraction of the price of houses in big cities.
Living underground brings other advantages: Few insects, less noise and light pollution, and even some earthquake protection. Not to mention that, in the case of Coober Pedy, there is a high probability of stumble upon an opal while we are opening another room.
Some inhabitants transformed their shelters into luxurious residenceswith high ceilings, spacious rooms and modern amenitiesall hidden beneath a seemingly desolate landscape.
However, underground life is not without challenges. The soft sandstone makes excavating at Coober Pedy easier, but building underground in wetter climates It’s much more difficultas humidity and poor ventilation can cause mold and infiltration problems.
The underground dwellings work best in arid regionsas in Coober Pedy and other dry places, such as Kandovan, Iran.
Despite these limitations, the idea of living underground attracts more and more interestas cities around the world face heat waves, wildfires and rising energy costs.
In cities like Chongqing, na China, old anti-aircraft shelters they are being repurposed to help residents escape extreme heat, in an echo of the logic of the Coober Pedy shelters.
As the effects of climate change intensify, the Coober Pedy model can inspire new approaches to sustainable living and comfortable—underground.
With the right conditions, the peculiar “sand pyramids” of the Australian city may begin to appear in other parts of the world, offering a cool and silent refuge from the challenges that lie above ground.
