René Douma and his mom Marianne began building houses into the hillside on the family farm without any experience in underground construction. Relying on books and online forums, they excavated a knoll behind their farmhouse and used 45 acacia trees from the property to shore up the walls and roof. After a waterproofing layer of … Read more
This video made by Athos shows him building a completely natural small dream house with dead wood, pine needles, thorns, moss, rocks and clay. It took him over two weeks and there are still some finishing touches he plans. You can watch the video at www.youtube.com and you can find out more at his channel: … Read more
Nick Armstrong says he’s logged hundreds of hours over the past year to build himself a backyard sauna that’s entirely handcrafted using cordwood masonry. The idea for the cordwood sauna came to Armstrong after reading an article about a family fundraising effort aimed at restoring a historic cordwood barn in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. “That got me … Read more
Bioceramic dome technology opens a new world of possibility in architecture. The current construction industry uses four primary material families – wood, metal, concrete, and organic polymers (plastics). Chemically bonded ceramics (bioceramics) are a new class of geopolymers that enable a different kind of innovation in construction. The new material family bridges the gap between … Read more
Wood provides a natural form of carbon sequestration, so there’s a move to use timber in place of industrial materials for building. Indeed, some countries are calling for public buildings to be made at least partly from timber, and large-scale timber buildings have been appearing around the world. As the timber industry seeks to produce … Read more
Blending passive solar design with a contemporary flair, this four-bedroom home in Connecticut has earth sheltering, radiant floors and solar panels. It was designed by Charles Woods, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, and was featured on the cover of Popular Science Magazine in 1988. Charles has written 4 books including, Natural Architecture , The Complete … Read more