This 18th century barn near Fairfield, Connecticut was converted into a 10-room residence in 1982, 200 years after it was first built. The property had a large red barn with two horse stalls, two hay lofts, and a stove to dry the onions that were grown in local fields. It also had two sliding barn … Read more
A brown, earthy, two-storeyed building is made of mud from the site, lime, Acacia, bamboo and recycled bricks, doors and windows. The polished teak wooden flight of steps was purchased from a second-hand shop. The bathroom tiles were acquired from a store going out of business. The surrounding roofed verandah on the first floor protects … Read more
Ten years ago when Tim Kroeker’s last child finally graduated high school, he and his wife decided it was now or never to follow through on their dream of building a house…an alternative house…in “the country”. With their years of research they could see the advantages (and some of the downsides) to the various possible … Read more
inhabitat.com featured an article about the pros and cons of using shipping containers as a basis for creating buildings. I think that they make some good points, so I’ll outline those below.Pros: CostCompared to building a similar structure with brick and mortar, on average, “cargotecture” can be 30 percent cheaper. Structural Stability Since steel containers … Read more
An article in Eco-Business News describes some of the amazing characteristics and uses for humble bamboo. Like all plants, bamboo stores carbon. However, because it grows particularly fast—some species grow up to 90cm a day—and matures within a few years, it can be harvested regularly. This means bamboo can create a large number of durable … Read more
I just got a nice update on what Ed Konderla has been up to in Ecuador, first building an earthbag house and then a guest house: The location is in the Andes Mountains, Southern Ecuador… very seismically active which necessitated a robust construction technique. The earthbag construction has been the way to go for me. … Read more