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
After buying an old, rundown stone house in Italy, architect couple Maddalena Cerruti and Vincent Baisnée set about transforming it into the ultimate sustainable home. Renovating the building from scratch, room by room, they used natural and locally sourced materials to turn the crumbling structure into a property that respects their health, the environment and the building’s … Read more
From the outset, Casa AYA aimed to be built in the most sustainable way possible and is the first straw bale home built to PassivHaus standards in Uruguay. The use of concrete was reduced by 93% compared to conventional construction by using raised foundations. This technique allowed the ground profile to remain unaltered, respecting the … Read more
Mike Oehler lived for over 30 years in an underground home that he built for $50 (and expanded for $500) on his land in Northern Idaho near the Canadian border. Now in his seventies his arthritis keeps him from hiking up to his home, but he continues to “write and proselytize” In 1968 like thousands … Read more
The cold desert region of Ladakh, India is characterized by harsh winters, minimal rainfall, and sparse vegetation. The residents have been forced to adapt to the environment, optimizing the limited available resources for sustenance. At an altitude of 3,500 meters (11,500 ft.) and over 300 sunny days per year, it is well positioned for passive … Read more
Barbara Jones is a passionate advocate of building with natural materials and has been a leading exponent of straw-bale construction since the mid-1990s – designing affordable, straw-bale houses. She has designed, built, or trained people to work on more than 300 projects using the material. She co-founded The School of Natural Building and trains a … Read more