Walipini greenhouse

Hello all, I have a couple of questions regarding the Walipini Greenhouse. I'm really serious about building one roughly about 100ft long by 50ft-80ft wide and 8ft-10ft in depth. My questions are as follows. 1. Can it be built in the round top style, or does it have to be in the sloped top angle? 2. What type of material would be best for retaining the side walls? Can rock be used as in a Gabion wall? Or would a concrete wall work best? Any advice is helpful. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I think that rock could be viable. In my climate there are centuries-old cellar holes down in the earth, remaining from abandoned houses where the rest of the house is currently nonexistent. Your idea sounds like a cellar hole with greenhouse covering, which sounds like something that might be interesting to  try, although not guaranteed to work. If you feel like taking the effort and the risk, it could be a benefit to the world to try and report back how it went. Maybe we will all be making stone-walled walipinis some day!

Because of my dedication to natural materials, I would definitely try if I were making a big walipini (and could get help with those stones!) The one I made some time ago is about one and a half by three feet and two feet deep, so I did not feel the need to make any walls whatsoever…

I know a family that’s digging and building their own foundation and cellar hole out of stones they gather, and plan to build a natural house on top when they’re done. They are an amazing family I admire in a lot of ways!