Outrage: the flawed premise of the luxury bunker - Architectural Review
▻https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/outrage/outrage-the-flawed-premise-of-the-luxury-bunker
‘The desire to be buried among one’s worldly possessions in anticipation of some sublime outcome – be it death or apocalypse – is what unites Tutankhamun with Jerry Henderson’
The clamour for the luxury bunker in the face of apocalyptic prophecies is fundamentally flawed
Surrounded by nothing but barren, rocky Nevada desert and a few scraggly palms, a perfectly normal two-storey stucco house conceals a secret: one buried underground. The underground house, built in 1979, includes a grotto, a putting green, concrete pillar trees, and painted vistas backlit with LEDs on a timer system so as to not disturb one’s circadian rhythm.
The Underground House was the flagship of the Underground World Homes company, the first purveyor of luxury bunkers founded by Avon Cosmetics CEO Jerry Henderson. His goal: a house touting all the benefits of American suburbia (no noise, no scary neighbours, no pollution) at a time when 70 per cent of Americans believed nuclear war was imminent.