The Canelo Project, a family ranch in Sonoita, Arizona, uses the most basic of resources, dirt and straw, to build houses. Bill and Athena Steen, the husband and wife team that founded the project in 1989, use strawbales as the building blocks for their homes. They stitch together the bales, and plaster them with a … Read more
This striking Wishing Well house, located on the coastline of the small island of Jersey, UK, has walls made of stones and rammed-earth. ‘Many of our projects explore materials that respond directly to their site context,’ say the architects. ‘In this instance, the coastal setting inspired the exploration of local granite, sand and earth as … Read more
The ancient Arabian city of AlUla had been uninhabited since the 1980s, abandoned when a new town center was established nearby. Here, hundreds of mud-brick houses, huddled around a tenth-century fortress. The old town is now being restored as a cultural district. A void, formed from the remnants of two former houses, was known locally … Read more
At 76, Graham Liney is the quintessential jack-of-trades. He has bred potatoes, run restaurants, travelled the world, worked in television, and built his own house in Australia. He came to Australia in 1969 as an art student from England, and three years later he stumbled across Willow Vale Mill, a 1830s flour mill in New … Read more
I recently got this email: Hello, My name is Kent Robertson, and I’m reaching out to express interest in potential apprenticeship or work opportunities with your operation. I’m drawn to earthen construction and land-based work because I value building skills that are practical, durable, and rooted in stewardship of the land. I’m especially interested in … Read more
Microalgae‑based architecture is gaining attention as a sustainable design solution for a variety of uses, and the concept could soon become a reality in Western Australia. Amin Mirabbasi, a PhD student at Murdoch University’s Algae Innovation Hub in Australia, has spent three years designing microalgae filled photobioreactors, which can be incorporated into a variety of … Read more