The ‘cob castle’ was built by builder Kevin McCabe and featured back in 2011 on Grand Designs TV show. He believes it to be the ‘largest cob building on the planet’. Mr McCabe admitted that he doesn’t know how much he had spent on building his dream home, however being eco-friendly it costs nothing to … Read more
In January 1973, when Fred Black was a first semester student at the University of New Mexico School of Architecture, the overwhelming sentiment in academia was that we had an environmental emergency in progress. Humankind had been burning fossil fuels at an alarming rate since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and there was hard, … Read more
In 1996, Raghava inherited a coconut plantation from his grandfather. Unlike his ancestors who had practiced agriculture for seven generations, Raghava, then an undergraduate, had no connection with the soil. “I grew up on a healthy diet of inspiring stories of local and international entrepreneurs. This was one of the reasons that motivated me to … Read more
Traditional wood decking brings with it a number of negative environmental effects. Tropical hardwoods can contribute to rain forest deforestation and habitat degradation. Using sustainably sourced fast-growth timber from ethically managed plantations is a step in the right direction, but it can often be difficult to ensure that timber branded as sustainable is actually sourced … Read more
A week long straw bale workshop near Ann Arbor, Michigan had 43 participants. “Building a straw bale home isn’t much different than a conventional home,” said Andrew Morrison, who created the workshop. “It uses regular foundations and floor frames, with posts and beams, and from there, workers stuff straw bales into the walls instead of … Read more
Mudgirls Manifesto is primarily a review of the evolution of the Mudgirls Collective, a radical group of Canadian women whose philosophy is that there should be no limits to their activities based on gender or social expectation. For over a decade they have been building homes for clients using natural materials and conducting workshops on … Read more