Building an Earthbag Round House eBook

I just finished reading Building an Earthbag Round House by Morgan Caraway of the Sustainable Life School. This PDF ebook describes Morgan’s experience of building his first attempt at earthbag construction some 15 years ago. As he says, there are many ways he would do things differently these days, but he basically got most of … Read more

The Earth Building Academy in New Zealand

Verena Maeder is an earth building artisan with 32 years experience constructing earth buildings. She first fell in love with natural building as a teenager, but because of the lack of formal training opportunities in this field she decided to pursue an education in architecture as well as building biology and ecology. In 2002 she … Read more

Colorado Earth Builds with Compressed Earth Blocks

Colorado Earth was founded by engineer and architectural designer Lisa Morey. After moving to New Zealand in 1999 to study architecture, Lisa was inspired to begin creating homes out of mud bricks. She met and began working with a local architect who was building homes this way. During her time in New Zealand she co-authored … Read more

Test Hempcrete and Seaweed Building in Iceland

Iceland’s first building made from hempcrete was designed by Lúdika Architects and was funded by several grants. Given the size and height limitations of this BioBuilding project,  Lúdika drew inspiration from the philosophy of Japanese tea houses, which emphasize craftsmanship, are often made of natural materials, and are very small. It is only 15 square … Read more

An Artists’ Studio Extension of a Stone Cottage

Studio Weave’s extension of a cottage in Devon, England on a secluded property is a double-story artists’ retreat. The extension, called Made of Sand, seeks to transform the traditional Devonshire stone cottage,  drawing on the historic origins of the site as a local sandpit. The flexible, open-plan spaces of the studio contrast the otherwise boxed … Read more