I just found this fascinating site while researching straw/clay. Natural building is alive and well around the world! Kyle Holzhueter’s website is loaded with photos and information on traditional building techniques. “Kyle Holzhueter works as a straw bale builder and translator in Japan. He has a PhD in Bioresource Sciences from Nihon University where he … Read more
Here’s another beautiful custom home design by Whole Tree Architecture.com. We covered their work in a previous blog post on Whole-tree Building that was very popular and so I decided to expand on this topic some more. You can think of whole-tree building as maximizing the trees that nature gives us to create rustic timberframe … Read more
Ken Kern traveled the world in search of innovative building ideas and reported his findings and ideas in The Owner Built Home. In my previous blog post about Kern, I said I would highlight more of his ideas. Well, here are three more ideas in addition to the Plunger Pile Floor System. Imagine hundreds of … Read more
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/2828805 w=400&h=302] The Rural Studio from BluePrint Productions on Vimeo. “The Rural Studio is a design-build architecture studio run by Auburn University which aims to teach students about the social responsibilities of the profession of architecture while also providing safe, well-constructed and inspirational homes and buildings for poor communities in rural west Alabama, part … Read more
Stephen and Nena MacDonald’s post and beam strawbale house in Gila, New Mexico that was built in 1988-1989. The initial shell was $5/sq. ft. and the finished cost was between $7-$8/sq. ft. – Permaculture.org “Build our house out of straw?” When our neighbor suggested the idea as a solution to our housing problem, both my … Read more
“Inspiration for your quiet place somewhere. Edited by the folks at Beaver Brook.” This is a fantastic site with hundreds of beautiful cabin photos! I’ve had the pleasure of living in places very similar to those in the photos. Thanks to Ziggy at Year of Mud for finding this great website. Image source: Free Cabin … Read more