Architects from the Faculty of Architecture at Brno University of Technology in the Czech Republic, together with the municipality and volunteers, have built an unconventional double-sided columbarium (a structure designed to hold the cremated remains of the deceased) at a local cemetery. The columbarium was created during summer schools and workshops using traditional rammed earth. … Read more
A group of engineers visited a remote mountain village tucked deep into Kashmir’s rural land. They came hoping to learn from what they found, and what they first noticed was an old, broken mud house, abandoned and half-swallowed by wild grass. The roof had caved in. Wooden beams, once solid and proud, were now warped … Read more
Anthony Dente is a licensed engineer and principal at Verdant Structural Engineers and Verdant Building Products and is the vice president of the Cob Research Institute, where he is committed to appropriate material use for all structural building systems. Anthony graduated from the Architectural Engineering program at Penn State University and moved to Berkeley, CA … Read more
An odd doughnut-shaped structure, resembling a thatched UFO, rises from a field on the outskirts of a rural town in central Colombia. Bamboo lattice walls curve up from the ground to form its bulging shell, tapering to a central chimney where wisps of smoke waft into the sky. Through the mesh walls, it is possible … Read more
Eleven graduate students in the Historic Preservation program at the Pratt Institute of New York spent their Spring Break shoveling soil, straw, and sand into wheelbarrows, mixing buckets of lime plaster, and applying limewash on historic walls as part of an Adobe Preservation Workshop in Mesilla, NM. They were assisted by Adobe in Action, a … Read more
I just received this Eulogy for Johnny Weiss, in loving memory of our dear friend, mentor, and solar pioneer, the founder of Solar Energy International (SEI). It is with a heavy heart that we are writing you today to honor the life and legacy of Johnny Weiss—a trailblazer in solar energy, a teacher to thousands, … Read more