This project was commissioned by a Waldorf school in Nairobi. The buildings needed to be constructed quickly, cost-effectively (achieving a cost of $250/m² or $23/sf), and with a temporary lifespan, as the plot lease was set to expire in 10 years. The concept was to create a small village for children nestled within the woods, … Read more
If you break open a chicken bone, you won’t find a solid mass of white material inside. Instead, you will see a complex, spongelike network of tiny struts and pillars, and a lot of empty space. It looks fragile, yet that internal structure allows a bird’s wing to withstand high winds while remaining light enough … Read more
Engineers at MIT are using recycled plastic to 3D-print construction-grade beams, trusses, and other structural components that could eventually provide lighter, modular, and more sustainable alternatives to conventional wood-based framing. They have printed four long trusses from recycled plastic, assembled them into a conventional plywood-topped floor frame, and evaluated the structure’s load-bearing capabilities. The printed … Read more
The Great Mosque of Djenné, located in Mali, exists thanks to a delicate balance between mass, geometry and continuous human intervention. Rebuilt in its current form in 1907 on older foundations, the mosque occupies a roughly square floor plan, approximately 75 meters (246 ft.) on each side, forming a compact volume that dominates the flat … Read more
In 2021, Mathieu Munsch walked away from the “normal” script— rent, bills, loans, a regular job— and headed for a sloping meadow in northeast France to build something radically simple: a small home made from the earth under his feet, wood from nearby, and straw bales from local farmers. He kept it to 50 m² … Read more
Below are listed several ways homes can be provided with renewable energy. There’s a good reason that solar panels appear first and foremost on this list. Converting to solar power for your entire home is the ultimate way to reduce your carbon footprint. This method offers to save you the most money over time. Many … Read more