When Kate Simonen, a professor who leads the Carbon Leadership Forum at the University of Washington, was a young architect experimenting with alternative approaches to conventional concrete. She called up her structural engineer on an educational-building project and asked if they could swap out some of the cement in their mix for fly ash. He … Read more
Tasmanian builder Andrias McMahon has been working with hempcrete on two recent projects. “The process of structurally making a building with hempcrete is not very far from a conventional building,” he said. “You need to give it a minimum of six weeks to cure — that’s the primary cure. “The overall curing process takes about … Read more
Justin & Linda Tyers bought a lot in the Exmoor National Park for £50k, which left them a budget of £67k to build a beautiful, off-grid, timber-frame, straw bale home. A truly inspirational self build. You can watch the video at www.youtube.com
Four years ago, architect Richard Morris co-founded Pounamu, a bamboo design and construction company in Myanmar, with Soe Win Zaw, a Burmese structural engineer. Before this he had no knowledge of bamboo construction. When he was asked to design a new school in Shan State his bamboo education began. Following Rudolf Steiner principles, the school’s … Read more
Nearly two decades of testing and experimentation have gone into producing these solar food dehydrator plans. This food dryer is efficient and off-grid and it’s highly cost-effective for anyone wanting to preserve lots of food at home. The author led research teams at the Appropriate Technology Program at Appalachian State University. They conducted many experiments … Read more
Nepal’s Bayalpata Hospital won an international award in the Health Category at the Global Architecture Festival held in Amsterdam. The hospital in is a public-private partnership and is built almost entirely using rammed earth. ‘This is an example of when architecture provides more than a building. Although modest in scale and architectural expression is delivers … Read more