“Hi Owen, Our earthbag dome has not been finished, we ran out of budget. The Chapala cyclone hit the area with very severe storms and rains a few weeks ago, here are the walls before and after.”
Earthbag Building
Survival Tactics: Dirt Cheap Bullet-Proof Earthbag Shelters
“Environmentalist’s best kept secret and the concrete industry’s worst nightmare… … the earthbag method means that you can build a small retreat to withstand bullets, floods, hurricanes, storms and fires much better than a conventional house.”
Why We’re Building an Earthbag Stemwall
“The small off-grid home we’re helping friends build here in the Appalachian foothills is getting a bunch of work done to it recently. The biggest task of the moment is building the earthbag stemwall, which we need to finish before our upcoming Straw Bale Workshop in July. We opted for an earthbag stemwall due to the availability of appropriate materials, the relative ease of construction, and the unique siting of the house. All things considered, I think going the earthbag route has been a good choice.
Transitional Earthbag Shelters in Syria
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has launched a test project for temporary shelters made from bags filled with earth in Syria. The architect, Anas Aljbain, is using ARCHICAD to develop the designs.
Colloquium Discussion about Rebuilding Nepal
One of the most significant contributions that I was able to make at the recent Natural Building Colloquium in New Mexico occurred in conjunction with a presentation about what Builders Without Borders is doing in Nepal to help with reconstruction efforts there. This presentation was done by three individuals, all shown in the photo below.
On the left is Martin Hammer, the current director of Builders Without Borders; in the middle is a young architect who recently returned from Nepal having initiated a multi-story urban residential unit using confined masonry within reinforced concrete; on the right is Parshu Dahal, who is a Nepali slated to receive assistance from the Builders Without Borders organization.
Massive Earthbag Retaining Walls
I have to laugh when people keep asking me if earthbag building is strong. Earthbags (sand bags) have centuries of use by militaries worldwide, because they’re bomb, blast and bullet resistant. Millions of sand bags are used each year for flood control to stop raging rivers. As well, earthbag building is earthquake and hurricane resistant.