Survival bunkers are big business nowadays, with some people prepared to splash serious cash to try and ensure their safety, come what may. The Plan B underground bunker is purely conceptual at the moment, but looks like it could cater to well-heeled types and offer a pretty comfortable place to hunker down.
Plan B would be made from reinforced concrete and would have a total floorspace of 2,280 sq m (around 24,500 sq ft), with three spiral staircase entrances. Designer Sergey Makhno Architects envisions it being placed near a larger home or in an out of the way location.
"The project proposal provides comfortable living for two or three families with children and staff with their families," explains the firm. "If necessary, the project can be redesigned for a much larger number of people, but at this stage, we are interested in experimenting with the underground space in such a way as to create the illusion of being above the surface – as if you could look out the window and see the blue sky."
Its two master bedrooms would consist of a sleeping area, storage space, and a bathroom each. One of the bedrooms would feature a stone garden and a high quality wall-mounted screen displaying different vistas, while the other would have an LED lighting system designed to create the illusion that natural light was seeping through from above.
Elsewhere would be more bedrooms, a library, a cinema, a large professional-style kitchen, and a living room with a central enclosed tree. There would also be workout areas, including a swimming pool and gym equipment, and a meditation area with an artificial sky on its ceiling. A water treatment system and a generator would be installed, and there would be a well to keep the water flowing.
Becoming trapped underground in a fire is the stuff of nightmares, so Plan B would, in addition to its three exits, have a "fire-resistant evacuation ring" allowing for escape. Additionally, the water supply, sewerage, ventilation systems, etc would all be autonomous and food would be grown with an indoor greenhouse.
Though there are no immediate plans to build Plan B, Sergey Makhno Architects says that it would work out the finer details of how all the autonomous and life-support technology would function with the help of specialists if commissioned.
Source: Sergey Makhno Architects
The modern movement for self sufficient underground living gained a wider acceptance and following in the 1970's.
You can still find many imaginative designs featured in old copies of Earth Shelter Digest, New Shelter and Mother Earth News magazines.
Just dust off an old idea and give it a new name for a new audience.
The big catch is how long your food will last. Most food has a shelf life of one to five years. You really want to overcome these obstacles? Fix the world before it gets to that point.
Also, in the event of a nuclear attack, a highly sophisticated, filtered, ventilation system is an absolute requirement, to prevent radioactive particles entering the dwelling. Otherwise one might just as well stand outside, and take deep breaths.
As for an indoor greenhouse; Its been shown that about 1/4 acre is the minimum to grow enough food for a family, (A lot of Victorian properties in the UK had 1/4 acre plots for that purpose, in the days before supermarkets.) It also requires intensive 7 day a week trained attention, plus farm animals to provide non vegetable nutrition, and fertiliser for the land. For, ''two or three families'' the area required would need to be proportionately larger, and even with multilayer, vertical cultivation, would still need a considerable area, and the power generation to provide strong artificial sunlight for maximum growth.
In addition, prevention of break-ins by starving, armed, gangs would be essential. Non is mentioned.
Conclusion, this bunker is just another ''Architects armchair fantasy''!
I've never been clear on what's going to maintain that social hierarchy. How long until the staff is sleeping in the luxurious master bedrooms and relaxing in the media room, and the two or three families are cleaning toilets, cooking, harvesting plants, etc? Feudalism can't survive living in such close quarters.