Dome for Australian Aborigines

Daniel Jones has a special feeling for the Australian Aborigines and conceived of a project to help them protect their heritage. He built an earthbag dome close to the beach at a swampy inlet that is an Aboriginal heritage protection site where an ongoing blockade against unsustainable greedy mansion development continues. The History Pod ‘Murrong … Read more

CalEarth’s Prototype for Haiti

The current newsletter from CalEarth describes how they have been designing an earthbag shelter/home prototype for use in Haiti.  This structure, consisting of a 10 ft. main dome surrounded by 3 apses (a 7 ft. sleeping apse, a 5 ft. fire cooking apse with storage below, and a 5 ft. apse that can be used … Read more

To Code or Not to Code?

We often get questions about where in the U.S. it is possible to build a home without some authority looking over your back and telling you what can and can’t be done. This is especially pertinent to earthbag building since as yet there are no codes that directly apply to this method, meaning that it … Read more

Rounded Corners on Earthbags

Square corners and tunnel-like window and door openings just don’t look right to me on natural homes. Gently curved openings and corners are much more elegant. Rounded openings have numerous advantages. Around windows, they allow more light into the home and improve the view. And they add a little extra space around doors, making it … Read more

Earthbag Dojo

I just met Disa and Rey at my latest earthbag workshop. I was really impressed with their dojo design and wanted others to see it. The Dojo and Wellness Center design is an adaptation of Cal-Earth’s eco dome. Our dojo will be built first at the center, and gradually we will build our living quarters … Read more

The Dometown Project

I’ve been corresponding with Richard Laurens who is developing a geodesic dome design that rests on earthbags and is covered in earthbags. His original plan was to use rammed tires to support the domes, but now he’s convinced earthbags are more practical. I’m encouraging him to use scoria-filled bags since he plans to build his … Read more