The work of Patrick O’Brien and his Salamander Group has spanned decades, with curiosity playing a role in leading him from conventional home building in urban Detroit to exploring alternative building in Taos, New Mexico. In 1995, he and his wife bought land near Taos and built the first of many straw bale homes that … Read more
Adobe is the humblest of building materials, for which earth, straw, and water are formed into bricks and then dried in the sun. It appears in arid places where dirt is the cheapest and most abundant natural resource. Adobe buildings have thick walls for structural integrity, and the earthen bricks can keep the interior cool. … Read more
Yesterday I had a wonderful and rewarding experience of touring a nearby Sufi Community along with other members of our local Permaculture Group. We were invited there by Sequoia and Sunny to immerse ourselves for a few hours in their nearly self-sufficient life. I was quite impressed by the extent of their accomplishments during the … Read more
In 2010, climatologists said Pakistan’s floods that year were “the worst natural disaster to date attributable to climate change”. Despite having less than 1% share in carbon emission, the country is ranked 8th in terms of exposure to climate hazards. Let’s stop sleepwalking towards the destruction of our planet by climate change. Private homes are … Read more
Mama Linda Ecolodge was built by the Indonesian company bambuso.id in the heart of Flores. Various forms of bamboo architecture were implemented in the construction, including space trusses using round bamboo and laminated bamboo beams. Some of the joints require masterly skill made possible by using a Balinese bamboo knife. They used the Dendrocalamus asper … Read more
Miguel Elliott has been on a journey to develop a building technique that is super affordable, quick to build, well insulated, and natural. What he has come up with is the “Palletable Cobin.” Back in 2010 Miguel was living at a retreat center in northern California and someone had built a shed framed entirely with … Read more