The Ranch-style house one-level  underground earth shelter was designed to blend with the surroundings with earth against the walls and on the roof. It had a brick veneer siding but was enclosed in a waterproof concrete shell and covered with a compacted earth berm. The entrance was created to look like an opening to a mineshaft. To make the house functional, over $104,000 () was spent on the hydroelectric system that supplied the underground dwelling with power. Water for the system flowed from glacial snowpack on Mt. Audubon. More than $200,000 ( was spent in total to make the house livable.
To imitate the comforts of above-ground living, the wood-frame home had three-bedrooms, a swimming pool, and fake "outdoor" patio. Because the house had no window, artist Jewell Smith painted Trompe-lœil murals depicting the New York City skyline from the living room and the Golden Gate Bridge from a bedroom. Windows within the structure revealed a narrow corridor that served as a separation between the "exterior" wall and the concrete retaining wall. As noted by architecture historian Beatriz Colomina in her book, Domesticity at War,' this architectural element disrupted the conventional notions of inside and outside. The house had a remote-controlled lighting system that could imitate the night sky and sunrise. Additionally, a fireplace channeled smoke through a fake tree trunk to the surface.