A beautifully crafted home for sale in Bear Valley, California looks like it belongs in Sweden. That’s where the dwelling’s owner got his inspiration for the 1,350-square-foot, one-bedroom, two-bath retreat. The home also includes two sleeping nooks in the living room, plus a large loft. In 1967, the seller—the late Dr. Johan Viking Hultin—bought the … Read more
On a back alley in Washington DC where only a few weed trees grew between derelict cars, Andrew and Hannah Linn erected a totally compostable house of bamboo, cork, wool and wood as a healthy, and affordable, home for their growing family. “For over a century, people lived in hundreds of wooden homes in DC’s … Read more
Cupa Pizarras has developed natural slate rainscreen facades with a variety of patterns to meet needs which demand more sustainable and energy-efficient buildings. The combination of high-durability slate with innovative fastening techniques, as well as the efficiency of rainscreen cladding, makes it a good choice. From traditional to contemporary styles, the various design possibilities of … Read more
SunRay Kelley, the barefoot builder of fantastical handmade castles, yurts, temples, spirit lodges, tree houses, etc., died on July 16 in Sedro-Woolley, Wash. He was 71. I first met SunRay at one of the Natural Building Colloquia, and you can read an article I wrote about this at greenhomebuilding.com. Bonnie Howard, Mr. Kelley’s longtime partner, … Read more
Yu Sing, an Indonesian architect, relies on local materials when constructing homes and public spaces. “Natural houses are no longer the first choice for people’s homes,” Yu Sing said. “The state even calls them uninhabitable homes.” Yu Sing founded Studio Akanoma in 2008 to showcase the design of low-cost housing using natural materials. A year … Read more
Witness the interplay of earth, water, and straw to create in-fill walls for a hand-crafted timber frame structure. Stone, clay, bamboo and straw are combined to create beautifully finished walls. Many hands come together, to gather stones, make adobes, mix cob, harvest bamboo to build natural walls that are durable and breathable. Multiple methods of … Read more