Dismayed by the costs of home ownership in Australia, a West Australian couple is building their castle out of earth bags to escape the mortgage trap. Kate and Scott Ryan-Taylor made the decision to build with earthbags after realizing the conventional path to home ownership was too costly. The couple estimate their home will cost … Read more
Reader Morgan, from the Sustainable Life School, just uploaded this video of a very brief history of earthbag building. I might add that missing from this history is the role that Gernot Minke at Kassel Polytechnic College in Germany played. In 1976 he began to investigate the question of how natural building materials like sand … Read more
Atulya Bingham just posted this nice article on www.motherearthnews.com : You might think building mud homes, especially earthbag houses, is age-dependent. But let me introduce you to Jehane Rucquoi, one of the most inspirational people I’ve met in the natural building world recently. Her creations will mash to a pulp any age-related limitations you harbour about … Read more
Getting the money together to build a house can be an enormous challenge. The possibilities include saving up enough money over time, paying for it with earnings while doing the construction, or borrowing from friends, family or a bank, and then paying back the debt over time. All of these options have their pros and … Read more
Here is a description of how a small cob shed was made with all local, natural materials. The audio is compromised by wind, but you can still get a good feeling for how the structure was built. Nicely done I would say.
Bonita Domes were built in Joshua Tree, California nearly a decade ago. Based on designs by Nader Khalili, these domes were fully permitted at that time. You can find out more about how they were built at earthbagbuilding.com.