Vanuatu Earthbag Project Report

In an effort to prove that a simple earthbag roundhouse could be built entirely with unskilled and inexperienced labor we made a leap of faith.

We bought a block of land on the island of Efate in Vanuatu. We intended to build a women’s centre and hoped to inspire pacific islanders to recycle and build safe affordable Eco housing. This is not a charity or a religious venture. It just started with one Australian family wanting to help some friends in a nearby island.

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Emergency Earthbag Shelter Now Under Construction

Emergency earthbag (sand bag) shelters are extremely low cost, safe, durable, require few tools and can be constructed by recipients with minimal training.
Emergency earthbag (sand bag) shelters are extremely low cost, safe, durable, require few tools and can be constructed by recipients with minimal training.

The earthbag emergency shelter Patti Stouter and I published in our UN Emergency Shelter Proposal is now under construction. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years. Drawings, articles and blog posts are all great, but there’s nothing like first-hand experience to work out the kinks and get detailed documentation. A European journal plans to publish this shelter design next month along with Kelly Hart’s Riceland Dome. The journal article will likely bring much more international attention to earthbag building, and this lit a fire under me to build an actual prototype.

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Earthbag Workshop in Victoria, Australia

Earthbag Workshop in Victoria, Australia in September 2013
Earthbag Workshop in Victoria, Australia in September 2013

“This is Nic and Minna from Permastructure again. Hope you guys are well at EarthbagBuilding.com, We’re happy to announce our next intensive workshop here in Australia, Victoria in September 21st to 28th.

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Domes beat the noise from the world’s busiest international airport

Hounslow Heath infants' school is directly under the flight path of Heathrow's southern runway and outside play for the children is interrupted every two minutes or so by landing aircraft passing over their heads. Photo: Reuters
Hounslow Heath infants’ school is directly under the flight path of Heathrow’s southern runway and outside play for the children is interrupted every two minutes or so by landing aircraft passing over their heads. Photo: Reuters

“Pupils at a London school so close to Heathrow airport that it sometimes seems descending planes might land in the playground have found a novel way to fight the roar of jet engines.

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