Colorado Earth Builds with Compressed Earth Blocks

Colorado Earth was founded by engineer and architectural designer Lisa Morey. After moving to New Zealand in 1999 to study architecture, Lisa was inspired to begin creating homes out of mud bricks. She met and began working with a local architect who was building homes this way. During her time in New Zealand she co-authored … Read more

Netherlands’ Ecovillage Boekel is a Model for Sustainable Living

From the sky, the Netherlands’ Ecovillage Boekel looks like a flower house. It is an almost self-sufficient housing community that was voted the most sustainable organization in the Netherlands in 2021. This project offers concrete solutions for social, economic, and cultural regeneration. The Ecovillage is made up of 36 pioneering sustainable flats where 48 adults … Read more

A Native Sioux Tribe Is Building the First Hempcrete Plant in the US

Natives from the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation in southwestern Minnesota are building a 20,000-square-foot manufacturing campus that will allow them to pioneer a green experiment, the first of its kind in the United States. They are growing hemp to process it into hempcrete, and then build healthy homes with it. Once the tribe makes this low-carbon … Read more

Couple Build Rammed Earth Home in Remote New Zealand

Li and Michelle Tane spent seven years living off-grid in their “happy place” – the Canterbury high country of New Zealand.  First they lived in a tent, then in a mud hut, and then two timber huts. Now, with two daughters, Thea and Juniper, they are finally building a house on their land. They are … Read more

The Heritage Foundation of Pakistan Builds Homes that Resist Disasters

Yasmeen Lari founded the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan in 1980 to preserve the country’s traditional architecture, and they have built some 85,000 structures for displaced Pakistanis, including victims of last year’s devastating monsoon rains. That disaster left a third of the country underwater and destroyed more than 2.1 million homes, but the thousands of bamboo … Read more