The Rocket & the Rabbithole

Sourabh Phadke in India has been quite productive lately in publicizing earthbag building in various ways.  He is involved with a school there, where they have been experimenting with many aspects of natural building and green living, from compost toilets to creatively using recycled plastic bottles to earthen plasters over earthbag walls. Much of this … Read more

Post-Tsunami Bamboo House

Architects, engineers and designers were quick to help create safer, more sustainable designs after the December 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia. One effort at the Geiger Research Institute of Sustainable Building led to an earthbag design, another effort developed a bamboo design with earthbag (sandbag) footings. Architects Diego Lastres and Daniella Corvetto were key to … Read more

Rubble Trench/Earthbag Foundation

The Fleming College Sustainable Building Design & Construction Progam project in 2008 was the Madoc Performing Arts Centre. Students of this annual summer program constructed a sustainable performing arts center in Madoc, Ontario, Canada. Since 2005, students of this program have been building sustainable public buildings for host communities. The buildings mix low impact, low … Read more

Earthbag School in Sierra Leone

Shine On Sierra Leone, a human service foundation that provides education, mentoring and nutritional support to schools in Sierra Leone constructed a school building using earthbags.  The building was made without power tools, but instead hand made tools. The idea was to use materials that are easily accessible to locals. At first, the workers laughed … Read more