This 120-year-old farmhouse is so energy efficient it puts some new-builds to shame. Hill House in Blacklion, Ireland, was restored with sustainability at its core.The restoration took nearly two years. Inside, the floor and internal walls were replaced. Designed so that it could be heated through passive solar means, the center of the house was … Read more
Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928 – 2000) was an Austrian painter turned architect who loved natural forms and abhorred straight lines. I have always been a fan of his fantastic and colorful imagery. His paintings and buildings resemble each other. Even though most of his architecture would not fall within the usual concept of “natural building,” in … Read more
Ten years ago when Tim Kroeker’s last child finally graduated high school, he and his wife decided it was now or never to follow through on their dream of building a house…an alternative house…in “the country”. With their years of research they could see the advantages (and some of the downsides) to the various possible … Read more
Hüseyin Afacan and his wife, Ayşe Afacan, both in their 70s, have been living a remote life on the island of Çiçek for over 15 years. Away from modern life, the couple restored a ruined Greek house and started raising chickens, ducks and sheep and adopted a dog. They meet their electricity needs with wind … Read more
Rob Avis with Verge Permaculture interviewed me on his YouTube channel a couple of weeks ago, and it is now available for you to see at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGXrWnoviCw The program runs almost an hour and is primarily about earthbag building, partly to promote the book I wrote titled Essential Earthbag Construction, published by New Society Publishing.
inhabitat.com featured an article about the pros and cons of using shipping containers as a basis for creating buildings. I think that they make some good points, so I’ll outline those below.Pros: CostCompared to building a similar structure with brick and mortar, on average, “cargotecture” can be 30 percent cheaper. Structural Stability Since steel containers … Read more