Sanjeev Karpe, an Indian engineer, shares how bamboo became important to him and why he thinks sustainability is so vital to the planet. In 2003 he had an opportunity to visit China and observe the prevalence of bamboo in construction there. He noticed exotic modern bamboo buildings, and how the plant’s tensile strength made it a … Read more
Hobbitowa, Krzywcza, Poland This Hobbit house used roundwood from local willow trees, clay for the interior plaster, lime for the exterior plaster, and cob stones for the infrastructure. The off-grid home also has its own water well, domestic sewage works, and photovoltaic panels for electricity. Inside, the house has a large open-plan living room with … Read more
From agile neighborhoods for veterans or the unhoused, to pocket hoods for Portlanders, the dozens of co-housing villages designed by Mark Lakeman are nationally recognized and in demand. “All my work, and all the permaculture, comes under an overall unifying heading. That is ReVillaging, you might say,” Mark explained, “With USA neighborhoods being mostly expressions … Read more
In 1978 the Howards were urban professionals. Wanting a simpler, more meaningful life on a smaller budget, the family-of-4 lived on $18K/year, reducing costs to $10K/year after moving to their “intentional” Colorado homestead. They moved into an abandoned double-wide trailer on their 35 acre property and began raising chickens and goats for milk, as well … Read more
Whimsical details abound inside and out at this one-of-a-kind home on Sturgeon Creek in Elliot Maine. Inside, you’ll find over 4400 square feet of living space that will surprise and delight you at every turn. There are options for bedrooms, great rooms, home office, art studio, music room, exercise room, root cellar, sauna, 4-season sunroom/potting … Read more
In her book Lo-TEK: Design by Radical Indigenism, Julia Watson proposes to revalue the techniques of construction, production, cultivation and extraction carried out by diverse remote populations who, generation after generation, have managed to keep alive ancestral cultural practices integrated with nature, with a low environmental cost and simple execution. While modern societies try to … Read more