La Casa Vergara was designed by José Andrés Vallejo and built in Bogotá, Colombia in just 5 months, early in 2011. I am delighted to see that professional architects are beginning to accept earthbag technology as a viable approach to building. La Casa Vergara is a fine example of an upscale home that is built … Read more
The Nubian vault is an African technique for the construction of timberless vaulted roofs. The AVN (Association la Voute Nubienne), through its Program ’Earth roofs in the Sahel’, helps provide families in sub-Saharan Africa with comfortable, sustainable, affordable, homes. In a recent Newsletter from this organization, I was impressed by the statistics they provided regarding … Read more
The compression ring I designed and had built by a local machine shop for our earthbag roundhouse worked perfectly. It costs me just $20 or so and used very few materials. The roof bolted together in one hour and, as reported previously, it was rock solid even with 4-5 workers climbing on it. Also note, … Read more
“Such nice people … I am super happy! Machimbrado finished the roof membrane. It was a labor intense 7 days, praying that the rains do not bend the wood, covered with plastic at night what we were roofing. The only thing missing is a wing, perhaps made of reeds. We made a modification in the … Read more
The folks at Our Little Thing blog have created a wonderful example of a pit greenhouse built with earthbags, PVC pipe, some wood, and plastic cover. This is the second one they have built, having learned many things from the first trial. In the harsh Patagonian climate, they plan to grow many things that are … Read more
Lowering costs is a major goal of earthbag building. One way to reduce costs is by using wood poles for lofts, roofs and other parts of the house. The poles are practically free if you obtain a firewood permit from the US Forest Service. There may be similar programs in other countries. This is a … Read more