Some of the proposed housing solutions in the $300 House competition are utterly soulless and devoid of love. They look like boxes churned out by a factory with little or no thought to cooking, living, sleeping, privacy, windows or other basic necessities. At first I noted their use of energy intensive materials such as steel … Read more
I’ve added a third entry in ‘The $300 House Open Design Challenge’. CEBs are popular and practical, and some of you may be thinking of using them for columns, next to wood stoves, interior walls or as a design element. They would make a great center column in a roundhouse. Geopolymer CEBs turn to actual … Read more
I thought you’d like to see Gernot Minke’s gallery. He’s one of the most experienced and knowledgeable earth builders around. His book Earth Construction Handbook: The Building Material Earth in Modern Architecture is the most in-depth, practical book for those who want engineering details. It will set you back $101 at Amazon. Check your local … Read more
Four of the top seven house designs at ‘The $300 House Open Design Challenge’ are currently earthbag houses. The ranking keeps changing, but that’s where it’s at right now. This is incredible. Of course I’ve known earthbag is growing in popularity, but to see it surge to this level is very exciting. In the screenshot … Read more
My housing designs are now posted for ‘The $300 House Open Design Challenge’. I’ve submitted two proposals so far: $300 Earthbag House – What the World Needs Now, and the Stone Dome – $300 Geopolymer Earthbag Dome. There are lots of new drawings and details included. Please, please take a look, leave comments and rate … Read more
We reported on Jesse’s earthbag shed in Belize in a previous post. Stunning, eh? Now he’s hard at work finishing his earthbag house. He’s putting the same level of skill and refinement into his home as he did his shed. Looking good, Jesse! Be sure to look through his photo album below. Photo credit: Jesse … Read more