A collective of architects, engineers and non-profits known as Hunnarshala have been rebuilding parts of India that have been affected by various disasters since 2001. They seek community participation and focus on traditional home designs.In the Banni grassland area the traditional circular wattle and daub buildings were replaced with more maintenance free rammed earth. The … Read more
The Nepali Times has published two articles recently about sustainable rebuilding efforts in Nepal. One, titled Quake was a learning experience for Nepal’s schools features two schools destroyed in the earthquake which are being rebuilt using rammed earth. “Rammed earth uses locally available mud and minimal cement to construct the walls of the schools, making … Read more
Rob Avis with Verge Permaculture interviewed me on his YouTube channel a couple of weeks ago, and it is now available for you to see at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGXrWnoviCw The program runs almost an hour and is primarily about earthbag building, partly to promote the book I wrote titled Essential Earthbag Construction, published by New Society Publishing.
The current issue of Mother Earth News has this article written by Kyle Chandler-Isacksen with Conrad Rogue; photos by House Alive. What is shown here are excerpts; you can read the entire article at the above link. Balecob is an infill technique that uses straw bales and cob to quickly create highly insulating, roof-supporting, and … Read more
Some years ago I noticed a house in the middle of the road. I didn’t remember a house being there and thought that I was seeing a strange mirage. The closer I got, the more real it appeared, until I was forced to slow down and drive around the thing, at which point there was … Read more
In 2018 Builders Without Borders and the Kevin Rohan Memorial Eco Foundation built the first straw bale house in Nepal. They collected loose straw and compacted it into bales using a steel mold and a farm jack.The bales were placed on a cemented stone foundation.Then the bales were held in place with external bamboo pins.A … Read more