This article reviews several common alternative building materials, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) is a panel system where each panel consists of multiple timber boards glued together in a perpendicular pattern. The result is a structural product that doesn’t bend and is very strong, rather like plywood. The panels are large, … Read more
In Ladakh, India’s highest plateau, residential architecture is shaped by extreme cold, intense solar radiation and arid landscape. Structures rely on locally sourced sun-dried mud bricks, rammed earth and timber, with hand-plastered walls and meticulously layered timber and compacted earth roofs engineered to withstand heavy snowfall. The spatial organization—livestock housed on the ground floor with … Read more
About 40 years ago, William bought 1.25 acres for $6000 on the Big Island of Hawaii and began growing his own food and building his own shelters. He was inspired to leave his native Wisconsin for a place where it would be easier to live off the land. Today he lives with only solar power … Read more
Windcatchers have been a sustainable solution to cooling and ventilation in arid climates, predating modern air conditioning by millennia. They are chimney-like towers with open sides designed to capture breezes high above ground level and direct them into the buildings below. By channeling cool air downward and expelling warm air through opposite vents, they provide … Read more
Deep in the Andes mountains of Columbia, Julio Leon is building a three-room house made mostly out of earth. To make the walls, Leon shovels damp earth in between two wooden panels. Then, he climbs on top of the 3-foot-tall pile and pounds it repeatedly with a wooden ram, turning his mound into a sturdy … Read more
Michael Reynolds has been perfecting Earthships for 55 years, and now he says he has the model just right. “An Earthship is a building that encounters the phenomena of the planet to provide sustenance for its inhabitants,” Michael Reynolds said. It is heated by the sun and kept warm using thermal dynamics. The buildings collect … Read more