Dustin: I live in Florida where few domestic buildings last more than 50 years because of hurricanes. I explored the Monolithic Dome for quite some time. They have stood the test of direct hits by very powerful hurricanes that leveled the entire neighborhood; except the dome. The dome is the only sensible structure here. No … Read more
The Castle Tower House is largely the same plan as the 2-story Roundhouse Above Survival Shelter with a crenellated roof design. In the earthbag castle I’m currently designing it’s used as a corner ‘watch tower’. Its primary function in ‘peace time’ is a guesthouse or office. Compare this version to the original plan to see … Read more
This design evolved from email discussions with one of my repeat customers who is building earthbag homes in South America. He wanted a larger, grander design that included a larger master bedroom, pantry, mechanical room and sitting room. My recent blog post on Earthbag Fortresses and Castles was quite popular and so I decided to … Read more
My Hobbit House design was one of the top viewed earthbag plans last week, and one of the most common search terms, so I reworked the roof to incorporate wood shingles. The first version showed a living roof, but these take a lot of maintenance and require an expensive EPDM rubber membrane. A wood roof … Read more
No one has built an earthbag fortress or fortified castle yet to my knowledge. I’m just throwing it out there as a possibility. Building something like this out of earthbags would be much faster than working with stone, and certainly less expensive. If this seems like just a fanciful thought, go back through some previous … Read more
Superadobeserrano is an Argentinian blog with lots of great photos. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t speak Spanish. Just copy and paste the text into free translation software such as Google Translate and you’ll soon understand what’s going on. I love the look they’re developing, especially the interior. Leo said the “cost of my roundhouse … Read more