The Nubian vault is an African technique for the construction of timberless vaulted roofs. The AVN (Association la Voute Nubienne), through its Program ’Earth roofs in the Sahel’, helps provide families in sub-Saharan Africa with comfortable, sustainable, affordable, homes. In a recent Newsletter from this organization, I was impressed by the statistics they provided regarding … Read more
What is the Earthbag Home Shield? It is a steel roof system intended to cover and protect an earthbag home. The one aspect of earthbag construction that I struggled with the most was the roof. We here at Cozy Home Plans have come up with a great option to cover your EB home. Benefits of … Read more
I asked for reader’s input in my previous blog post about the Shelters for All affordable housing contest. They’re seeking 700-1,100 sq. ft. one story house designs for the poorest in urban areas. Unless I get another flash of inspiration, I’ve settled on the Craftsman house plan. I’ve made dozens of changes to suit the … Read more
Here’s the fascinating inside story of how they built Frank Loyd Wright’s famed School of Architecture at Taliesin West. Desert concrete or dry-pack is more sustainable than typical concrete because it uses free local sand and stone, no gravel and very little water. Large stones reduce use of cement. “There was a query on the … Read more
I’ve known about bottle walls for a number of years, but I didn’t pay much attention because most bottle walls use a lot of cement and because earthbag walls are superior in a number of ways. Up until today I favored bottle walls primarily for decoration. (See Bottle Walls and Bottle Wall Details.) My opinion … Read more
From EarthKaya: Welcome to the future…. EarthKaya is dedicated in providing low cost, eco-housing solutions. Less time, less impact, less cost. In a world where organic is more expensive than traditional crops, solar panels are often costly to install and electric cars inconvenient to run, many people may be reluctant to ‘go green’ at home. … Read more