A home is so much more than its physical manifestation in the world. It is a place of togetherness, of gathering, of sharing, and of connecting. The mission of inourhands.love is to leverage their building technique to support those in need by providing warmth, stability, economic opportunity, and hope. The act of building a home … Read more
Long derided as old-fashioned symbols of grinding poverty, mud and straw houses are making a comeback in Hungary as a low-cost, eco-friendly alternative to concrete. Master builder Janos Gaspar, who renovates earth houses, says, “I’m booked up for three years. Interest is sky-high.” He has built more than 200 clay houses. Locally accessible materials is … Read more
Michael Reynolds, the 77-year-old architect and founder of Biotecture Enterprise has been experimenting near Taos, New Mexico for more than 50 years with constructing Earthships, self-sufficient off-grid houses that harvest their own electricity, water and heat. “We build according to six principles,” Reynolds sums up his philosophy. “Passive thermal heating and cooling, power from the … Read more
Standard brick kilns use a diverse range of energy sources to fire bricks, all of which release noxious pollutants and particulate matter into the environment. Also the raw material for bricks comes from top soil and clay, depleting precious land resources, which could otherwise be used to grow food. Brick manufacturing innovators are exploring the … Read more
There is a wonderful thread at permies.com about historical root cellars, with lots of photos, videos and book references. It is well worth taking a look at.
These hempcrete blocks are a green building material made with a hemp-lime insulation mixture packed around a biocomposite structural frame. They can be stacked like bricks to build walls up to 30 feet high and they become the insulation and the structure of the building. All you need to do after the walls are built … Read more