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Trends has collected a selection of the most modern and technologically advanced bunkers, in which, if necessary, you can wait out the apocalypse
In 2020, bunker builder Rising S Bunkers saw a 2000% increase in orders from potential buyers who were worried about their future due to the spread of the coronavirus, according to its owner. And supporters of the concept of survivalism (a subculture whose members study situations of potential risk – from small floods to military conflicts – and prepare for them in order to save life under any circumstances) rated the coronavirus as a medium-level disaster, to which many of the “survivalists” (supporters of survivalism ) were ready. Bunkers have become one of the options for escaping from a long lockdown and the “end of the world.” We tell you what kind of bunkers exist today and whether it is realistic to escape the apocalypse in them.
Bunkers of millionaires
The Californian commercial company Vivos has come up with an underground bunker that looks more like a cruise ship, which it has located on an old military base created in Germany during the Cold War. You can get there only by buying space for your family (you can buy about 230 sq. m).
The developers believe that the bunker can withstand a nuclear explosion at close range, an earthquake and any armed attack. All indoor systems are automated. The underground house is equipped with autonomous climate and ventilation systems, a water generation system with three diesel generators and water treatment facilities. And there are restaurants, a medical center, wells and even power plants. Representatives of the Vivos company wanted to be able to live in an underground house without outside support.
Also, the authors of the idea placed in the shelter a collection of zoological species, an archive of the most valuable artifacts and treasures of the world, and even a DNA repository for the conservation of species.
Secret bunker in Kansas
Back in 2018, Business Insider wrote about how Silicon Valley millionaires are investing in end-of-the-world developments and buying up bunkers in New Zealand, the ideal place, according to the inhabitants of the Valley, to survive the apocalypse.
During the lockdown, the situation escalated. Fearing riots, the millionaires began to figure out how to protect their families, potentially preparing to spend at least six months in bunkers. Some led a tunnel to an underground shelter right from their homes, while others built a safe structure away from their residence.
One of the most expensive and high-tech bunkers is located on the site of an old missile silo from the Caribbean crisis in Kansas. Since 2008, the bunker has been owned by former government contractor Larry Hall. It was he who made a modern house underground on the site of an old military base.
The exact coordinates of the area where the bunker is located are unknown – the territory is classified and is under protection. To enter the premises, you need to overcome the checkpoint, and then the steel doors weighing 8 tons. The base goes underground for 60 m (15 floors) – this is the height of the Egyptian pyramid of Djoser – and can accommodate no more than 75 people.
The bunker contains a pet park, a climbing wall, a swimming pool, a library, a medical center, a classroom, and a cinema with 3 movie collections. Each room has a window with a “street view”: it is a kind of live photo wallpaper that broadcasts what is happening outside the bunker. Of course, real Wi-Fi in such a building is quite difficult to install, so the creators downloaded a search engine that works on the principle of Google: it immediately downloads all the pages that may be of interest to the user by keywords.
The food in the Kansas bunker will last for several years, but in addition to supplies from the world “above”, the house has containers for growing fish and hydroponics for organic vegetables.
New architectural direction and design projects
Not only millionaires have thought about what consequences the COVID-19 pandemic can bring. Design studios also began to develop projects for bunkers, and someone even came up with a name for a new architectural direction – “bunkertektura”.
The designers of the Kyiv studio Sergey Makhno Architects decided that the pandemic is an impetus for the implementation of conceptual architecture projects, and presented the Plan B Underground House. The bunker, invented by the designers, is more like not a harsh shelter, but a modern house where you can live comfortably even in peacetime.
The authors of the project are sure that “reliability can be aesthetically attractive”: from the side, the bunker looks like an unusual concrete structure with a plate-shaped surface in the style of brutalism or modernism – this is a helipad that is needed in case of evacuation.
The residential floor is located at a depth of 15 m and is a room with a living room, partitions, a library, a kitchen, a medical office, a room for walking animals, a gym, a swimming pool illuminated by green lights, a garden for growing vegetables and fruits. Three families can live in such an underground house.
In the center of the living room, the designers placed a backlit cylindrical lighting fixture that will create the illusion of sunlight. The authors of the project wanted to make the residents of the bunker feel almost no difference between living indoors underground and outside: it was important to come up with something that could imitate the view from the window. To do this, they used digital systems – in one of the rooms, a digital screen occupies the wall from floor to ceiling. There you can set up different locations: for example, snow-capped mountains or the streets of Kyiv.
The rest of the Plan B House underground space is planned to be used for generators and water systems.
The concept of another sustainable bunker was developed in 2020 as part of a competition launched by the UNI design community.
The project designer came up with a system that allows people not to give up their usual life even in the bunker: there is space for work, shopping, gardening and recreation. About 32 families can live in such a building.
Cyberhouse inspired by Tesla
Architects from the Modern House workshop were inspired by the presentation of the Tesla Cybertruck armored pickup truck and came up with the concept of a modern autonomous cyberbunker.
Cyberhouse is a three-tiered bunker with walls made of cast-in-place concrete and heavy-duty steel, which ensure the safety of the building. Sunlight, as conceived by the architects, will enter the bunker through an armored glass ceiling at the top of the structure.
According to the authors of the project, in 2020 they began to receive real orders for cyberhomes. The cost of such a bunker starts from ₽56 million.
Bunker city and do-it-yourself shelter
The same company Vivos xPoint used the territory of the old US military base in South Dakota to build the largest shelter in the world. Their bunker town can accommodate 5 people, or 575 families. The bunker complex is located in one of the most secure strategic areas in North America (on a flat area approximately 1 km above sea level, away from bodies of water and known nuclear military targets). Its area is about 47 sq. km – a little less than the Moscow Central Administrative District or Manhattan Island.
Only “members of the community” can enter the territory, as there are round-the-clock security with trained military guards and a modern security system. The bunkers are equipped with everything you need to live in them for one year, and are protected by blast doors made of steel and concrete, which can also be sealed. Vivos offers a variety of building options. You can add satellite services, hydroponics or aquaponics for plants to the bunker, choose the number of rooms, a security system, a cinema, and much more – the premises will be filled based on the desires and needs of buyers.
Of course, all these high-tech developments are sometimes available only to millionaires, but some enthusiasts build bunkers on their own. For example, British inventor and blogger Colin Furze hid a bunker under the lawn on his home. Ferza’s underground structure is made of stainless steel and filled with reinforced concrete. The bunker has already shown itself perfectly in some of the blogger’s experiments: inside it, Colin blew up fireworks, launched rockets and played the guitar, from which fire came.