Pete Bissonette has one of the about 650 homes Earth Sheltered Technology has built since it began in 1981. The company has houses in Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as in California and Alaska. “I loved every bit of building it,” Bissonette said. “I’m glad I made the decision to build it. I have no … Read more
A new book, Building the Future; From the Ground Up, follows rammed earth specialist Paul Geraets’ journey as he masters this sustainable construction method on more than 100 projects across New Zealand, while on a mission to show how more rammed earth houses could change the building industry for the better. “Not only are these … Read more
JJ and Fred Milder were looking for their dream home- they’d spent most of their married life in Boston-, but now with their daughters in college, they were looking to relocate. They stumbled on a former cattle ranch in the high desert outside Sante Fe that was being sold as part of a conservation trust. … Read more
Some birds’ nests are cup-shaped, some have domes, others have been likened to apartment complexes. How do birds build their nurseries? Captain Cook collected a hummingbird nest during his trip to Brazil. That nest, just 6 cm (2.4 inches) high was in the fork of two branches, camouflaged with lichen, lined with fluffy seeds and … Read more
Separo House, located in the village of Separo, Iran was designed by Hypertext Architecture Studio. It features vaulted roofs that reflect regional architecture while providing essential shading and thermal comfort in the hot, arid climate. It is constructed primarily from adobe so its color echoes the nearby mountains. Its double-shell structure enhances indoor thermal comfort, … Read more
Yama-Tani is a small residential project in Paris designed by the Japanese architecture studio Kengo Kuma. The project aims to recreate the intimate scale of a village within the urban environment of the French capital city while incorporating nature into the design. One of the project’s key strategies is its stepped composition, which allows maximum … Read more