Four years ago, architect Richard Morris co-founded Pounamu, a bamboo design and construction company in Myanmar, with Soe Win Zaw, a Burmese structural engineer. Before this he had no knowledge of bamboo construction. When he was asked to design a new school in Shan State his bamboo education began. Following Rudolf Steiner principles, the school’s … Read more
Nepal’s Bayalpata Hospital won an international award in the Health Category at the Global Architecture Festival held in Amsterdam. The hospital in is a public-private partnership and is built almost entirely using rammed earth. ‘This is an example of when architecture provides more than a building. Although modest in scale and architectural expression is delivers … Read more
A couple of days ago this was posted on our bulletin board: “Greetings Earth-builder Aficionados, You’ll be glad to hear that I have invented patent-pending technology to make prefab earth walls, which I sincerely believe will revolutionize our built environment from production to construction to operation. As I’m sure you all know, earth is the … Read more
In an old post of Owen’s about Ancient Rammed Earth Structures, I have been responding to Mirosan, who asked these questions: “So, so far all three mentioned are in arid if not desert situations. Is that because other structures (of rammed earth) in non desert or non arid climates have succumbed to the elements or … Read more
WholeTrees Structures, a Wisconsin-based design and construction company, finds both architectural opportunity and environmental advantage in designing and building with intact tree trunks that would otherwise be culled. Intact wood has a lighter environmental impact than engineered wood and a much lighter impact than steel. The company generates new technologies and products as part of … Read more
Intrepid earthbag researcher and advocate Patti Stouter sent me this remarkable photo taken in Nepal. She says, “I just got this photo from someone who helped build about 500 earthbag houses in Nepal after the quakes. This heavy truck had an accident and rolled off an adjacent mountain road and onto the roof of this … Read more