Thousands gathered in the World Heritage city of Djenné in Mali for the annual Grand mosque plastering ceremony. This adobe building is considered to be one of the greatest achievements of the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style. The plastering is done with banco, which is a mixture of sand, water, shea butter, rice bran and baobab powder … Read more
With 25,000 euros and 1000 hours of work, Maurizio Cesprini and his partner Paola Gardin rebuilt a ruined home in the medieval village of Ghesc, Italy. They hope other young families will consider their example with a plentiful supply of medieval ghost towns. They also feel drawn to save the rich architectural heritage of artisanal … Read more
Recently, Joe Trumpey and a group of students put the finishing touches on the first straw bale building on the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus. Besides the straw, many recycled materials were used for the structure. The wood used in the building was sourced from campus trees that were dead or dying. “It’s very … 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
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.