Nigeria’s housing deficit currently stands at about 28 million units and it will take an investment of about $47 billion over 20 years to meet the country’s housing demand. Currently Nigeria imports 90% of the materials used in construction across the country. This fact, along with the foreign currency crisis in the country, makes housing … Read more
At the end of 2011, after deciding to go to France for a “gap year”, Australian Karen Stride arrived in the country with a 12-month long stay visa with nothing but a desire to soak in the sights and sounds of her favorite European destination. “I didn’t come to France with the intention to buy … Read more
Termites are master engineers who can build enormous, complex nests that stand several meters tall. They build intricate tunnels that have natural air conditioning. But how do these tiny creatures coordinate to create such impressive structures? A study by researchers at the IMT School for Advanced Studies in Italy has cracked the mystery. Termites focuse … Read more
I just finished reading Building an Earthbag Round House by Morgan Caraway of the Sustainable Life School. This PDF ebook describes Morgan’s experience of building his first attempt at earthbag construction some 15 years ago. As he says, there are many ways he would do things differently these days, but he basically got most of … Read more
Verena Maeder is an earth building artisan with 32 years experience constructing earth buildings. She first fell in love with natural building as a teenager, but because of the lack of formal training opportunities in this field she decided to pursue an education in architecture as well as building biology and ecology. In 2002 she … Read more
If you like looking at pictures of eye catching examples of natural buildings, a good place to do this is at www.pinterest.com where Sherry Broderick has posted over 400 of her favorites. I even found pictures of projects that both Owen Geiger and I had completed many years ago. I’ll give you a few examples … Read more