Miguel Elliott has been on a journey to develop a building technique that is super affordable, quick to build, well insulated, and natural. What he has come up with is the “Palletable Cobin.” Back in 2010 Miguel was living at a retreat center in northern California and someone had built a shed framed entirely with … Read more
Martin Anda, with his wife and some friends, bought a piece of land in Fremantle, Western Australia, that was part of an existing One Planet Living certified eco-village residential precinct. The land had a north facing orientation to help capture the Australian winter sunlight. Martin lives with his wife in one 60 square meter (646 … Read more
Mahesh Krishnan could easily live a luxurious life, but instead, he chose to lead a more sustainable lifestyle. He constructed a mud house on the outskirts of Bengaluru, all within 125 days and using just Rs 18,500 ($235 US). After quitting his job in the hospitality sector he started learning basic life skills like natural … Read more
In 1978 the Howards were urban professionals. Wanting a simpler, more meaningful life on a smaller budget, the family-of-4 lived on $18K/year, reducing costs to $10K/year after moving to their “intentional” Colorado homestead. They moved into an abandoned double-wide trailer on their 35 acre property and began raising chickens and goats for milk, as well … Read more
Clay, sand and a little bit of straw. Add some water, pack the mixture into bricks and let them bake under the hot summer sun. Adobe is an ancient building material that has become more popular in recent years because it is environmentally friendly, according to the Earthbuilders’ Guild, an organization that promotes and aims … Read more
The trend of taking shipping containers and recycling them into architectural elements for homes hit Phoenix in the fall of 2015, when Containers on Grand opened. It already had a waiting list upon completion. Brian Stark, founder of Local Studio and one of the architects behind Containers on Grand, began working on a second installment of shipping … Read more