The astonishing subterranean dwelling was the focus of a fascinating documentary series recently uploaded to Netflix, aptly named The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes.
In it, hosts Piers Taylor and Caroline Quentin around the world exploring breathtaking achievements of engineering and architectural design.
And in the above episode, their journey takes them to Vals, Switzerland, to meet Bjarne Mastenbroek.
The ambitious designer built a stunning home into the picturesque hillside of the tiny mountain town – using an old, worn-out farming cabin to disguise it from the world.
NETFLIX
BREATHTAKING: The shabby cabin hides an incredible surprise beneath it
Access to the home is reached through a mysterious dark corridor, shown in the clip above, which spills out into the startlingly-beautiful structure hidden on the other side.
“When I was young I built a lot of underground houses with my friends and I kept that idea in my mind,” Bjarn explained.
“I thought it would be quite nice to do it.
“We spent a lot of time on the layout. First, it was a banana-shaped building, three storeys. But then we had to cut it down, also because of the budget, until we reach two-and-a-half storeys and not too deep.
NETFLIX
STUNNING: The remarkable structure is buried deep into the hillside
The Chinese village inside a giant CAVE
Zhongdong village is "one of the last" in China where people still live inside a cave. They have electricity and modern appliances, however it is incredibly remote, with only a treacherous path through the mountain to get to civilisation
AFP/Getty Images
A general view of the cave
“Then you have to organise all the rooms so they are in daylight, that was probably the trickiest thing to get in.
“The design of the house, as an overall design, took a look of time.
“Then we started building and that took us more than two years.”
The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes is available now on Netflix.
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