Rebecca Tasker, with a crew of apprentices, is building two straw bale houses near Escondido, California. So the building project is also a teaching site. “Using straw fits in with permaculture. People like sustainability,” Tasker said. “When you talk of energy used for building materials, that energy was already used in growing the food that … Read more
Tucked outside of Sanmenxia City in China’s Henan Province is a 4,000-year-old Chinese town nicknamed the “mole town.” More than 3,000 people live in underground dwellings known as yaodongs (or “house caves”). They’ve only recently become accessible to tourists looking to experience them firsthand. The yaodongs originated during the Bronze Age—a period when it was … Read more
Austin Maynard, the Australian architects who designed this St Andrews Beach House say that, “Beach houses exist for simple relaxation, an escape from the city, for quietude and downtime with family and friends. It should provide contrast from day-to-day normality, be super low maintenance, relatively self-sustaining and basic, but not without simple creature comforts.” This … Read more
This Cannon Beach house, built in 2005, has a green roof planted in sedum and wild strawberries and is clad with cedar shakes. Architect Nathan Good’s clients wanted a home “that would be healthy to live in with a dramatically reduced impact on the environment.” Almost all of the wood was salvaged, wind fallen or … Read more
Here is a video I found at permies.com where you can find a long discussion about the concept. You can also watch the video at www.youtube.com
Paula and Bill Lishman spent many winters in a poorly insulated A-frame cabin before realizing they needed to go underground to use the earth’s energy to stay warm, so they knocked the top off a hill, built ferrocement domes and covered it up again with dirt. Thanks to skylights cut into every dome and the … Read more