I just got this email from Michael G. Smith, the expert on cob construction at www.greenhomebuilding.com : You may or may not know about the Cob Research Institute (CRI), a non-profit corporation founded in 2008 to remove legal barriers to cob construction. One of our goals has been to write a code for cob and to … Read more
Jay Shafer is a man who many know as the Godfather of the modern tiny house movement. It was 20 years ago that he built his original tiny house on wheels and that has since inspired thousands of people all over the world to construct their own tiny homes. His new tiny house design is … Read more
I just received this encouraging report from Roger Gietzen: Attached are some photos of the earthbag protect in Haiti. We are preparing now for the cement top beam and the roof. I’m happy with the speed of work and the fact the walls are completed, but there are some things I could do better next … Read more
A Harvard program to retrofit a campus building and create a living laboratory for energy-efficient architecture officially aims to develop techniques and technologies to make the built world more sustainable. The renovated building was designed by the school’s Center for Green Building and Cities with strict performance targets in mind: nearly zero energy for heating … Read more
Here is a short video featuring one of Malcolm Wells’ underground houses. He was a pioneer in earth-sheltered designs and this one is now for sale.
Around 1997, when my wife and I first came to Crestone, Colorado, there was a buzz going around town about an amazing new building material that its inventor, Mike McCain, called “fibrous cement,” but that has become more widely known as “papercrete.” Mike, with his tremendous enthusiasm, was generating interest in the wonders of his … Read more