A springhouse is a small building, usually just a single room, constructed over a spring to keep the water clean from debris and animals. Later, it became the early form of refrigeration, a place for food storage. Everything, from meat, fruits, eggs, and even dairy, stayed cool by the constant spring waters flowing around or … Read more
Starting in 2024, new homes in England will have to make sure their projects deliver at least a 10% biodiversity net gain. Helen Nyul, group biodiversity manager for one developer, describes what has been done at one recent development. “We’ve got the house marten nesting cups which are on the side of the front end … Read more
The Imagina cultural center on the outskirts of León, Mexico, is housed in a big, multistory facility, constructed mostly from locally dug adobe soil; it is engineered using bioconstruction techniques, a holistic building technique that aims to achieve a circular economy, minimizing waste and benefiting people. In fact, all 3,500 square meters (about 37,700 square … Read more
I usually avoid posting about projects that involve the use of lots of cement, but this underground homestead has many other features that are worth exploring. When Al Schwarz moved from upstate NY near Dallas, TX, he wanted a home with low energy bills and protection from extreme weather, so he dug into a hillside, … Read more
Straw bale houses are gaining popularity due to their ecological and sustainable nature. These unique homes are built using straw as either the primary structural element or insulation or both, providing a natural and renewable way of building. Straw bale homes offer exceptional insulation properties that help you keep your house warm during colder months … Read more
I once used a prefabricated steel Quonset hut as a basis for building a combination garage/workshop/office/storage room. It worked very well for these purposes and was quite inexpensive. I called it my Carriage House and you can read more about it and even buy plans for it at dreamgreenhomes.com. So when I saw this article about … Read more