The Casa Ballena Art Center in Los Cabos, Mexico

Casa Ballena is an art center designed for Mexican and international artists in Los Cabos, Mexico. Its design takes advantage of the topography in order to play with different heights and create a natural buffer that allows both views and private space. The earth that was removed to create the platforms was reused to build … Read more

Building an Earthbag Dome at Vanirah Farm

The folks at Vanirah Farm in India have been building an earthbag/superadobe dome that will function as a winter community kitchen. Building the main structure with earthbags was fast, but the finishing work has taken a lot of time. They are also building a large earthbag rainwater harvesting tank. This video shows some of the … Read more

Ecological Properties of Natural Slate

Natural slate, which can be used for both roofing and facades, is a material with one the lowest contribution to emissions and environmental impact. Life-Cycle Assessment can be used to assess and quantify possible environmental impacts associated with a product or process, which compiles the inputs, outputs and overall potential environmental effects of a product … Read more

A Couple’s Hand Cranked Utopia

In 1978 the Howards were urban professionals. Wanting a simpler, more meaningful life on a smaller budget, the family-of-4 lived on $18K/year, reducing costs to $10K/year after moving to their “intentional” Colorado homestead. They moved into an abandoned double-wide trailer on their 35 acre property and began raising chickens and goats for milk, as well … Read more

Unique Whimsical Waterfront Home in Maine

Whimsical details abound inside and out at this one-of-a-kind home on Sturgeon Creek in Elliot Maine. Inside, you’ll find over 4400 square feet of living space that will surprise and delight you at every turn. There are options for bedrooms, great rooms, home office, art studio, music room, exercise room, root cellar, sauna, 4-season sunroom/potting … Read more