A Fruitful Legacy in New Zealand

What Clare and Tony began in New Zealand nearly three decades ago with a property scattered with timber trees is now a vibrant food forest, home to more than 200 fruiting plant varieties, many of them rare or unusual. There are 27 varieties of apples, grapes, avocados, bananas, pineapples, Sichuan pepper, berries, nut trees, passionfruit, … Read more

Tim Kring’s Adobe Roundhouse

I recently got this email from Tim Kring: “Hi Kelly, I built this round structure loosely around the round house studio plan.  The base wall is stabilized adobe using approximately 8% Portland cement and earth bag tubes from Cal earth. Once the wall was above knee high I switched to traditional Adobe block .  I … Read more

Building a Rustic Cabin in the Woods

In this video, Vasya takes us deep into the forest to build a rustic cabin entirely from scratch. Using natural materials, simple tools, and incredible craftsmanship, he creates everything from the foundation to the roof, adding functional and decorative elements like a chimney  and furniture. Step by step, he transforms raw resources into a cozy … Read more

Saudi Arabia’s Ancient Wells

The timeless craft of stone building and the use of palm trunks and fronds have revitalized the ancient wells of the Al-Jouf region of Saudi Arabia. These water sources were constructed using natural materials from the environment at no financial cost. Salma’s Well in Sakaka stands out as an educational project for younger generations. It … Read more

A Framework For Evaluating Sustainablility

When we talk about sustainable housing, we rarely talk about how to prove that. The construction industry is one of the most polluting sectors on the planet. While both expensive and inefficient, it is responsible for up to 40% of global solid waste. Despite widespread talk of “green building,” real data is often hard to … Read more

Senegalese Company Champions Natural Materials

Elementerre is a Senegalese company founded with the mission of revolutionizing the construction sector using sustainable, locally sourced materials. Established in 2010, the company has made rammed earth its primary material, offering it as an ecological and long-lasting alternative to conventional building materials. Using compressed earth blocks, produced by mixing local soil with a small … Read more