Old churches offer both spiritual and historic value. I’ve visited several in the American Southwest that are worth commenting about. The first is the San Francisco de Asis Church in Taos, New Mexico, which was started by the Franciscans in the late 1700s and completed in 1816. This adobe building is now a National Historic … Read more
www.firespeaking.com has a whole page devoted to mass heaters combined with staircases, which seems like a great idea to me. Both mass heaters and staircases take up quite a bit of floor space, so if you combine them into a unified structure they conserve space and add a lot of interest to the room. Below … Read more
The Ulaman Eco Retreat in Bali is not only gorgeous, but is fully carbon zero. The nearby river has a number of small waterfalls that produce enough flow to power a hydro electric generator that can power all of the buildings within the complex. And all of the natural building materials were sourced in that … Read more
Welcome to the Jungle House was designed by one of Australia’s champions of sustainable architecture, Clinton Cole. It generates its own electricity, warms and cools itself, provides its own water and food – including fish, vegetables, eggs and honey – powers its own car, is smothered in greenery and is in the middle of inner-city … Read more
This is a fun, ecological retreat house surrounded by trees in the United Kingdom. Much of the material used was recycled or gathered locally. You can find out more about Ravendere Retreats at ravendere.co.uk You can watch the video at www.youtube.com
Architect Vinu Daniel of Wallmakers is focused primarily on sustainability. Using mainly mud blocks, rammed earth and burnt bricks he designs spaces in their raw, natural state. He met the legendary Laurie Baker while studying architecture. “Baker made me understand that a building can co-exist with nature and be built with minimal wastage.” For awhile … Read more