Building with Mud for a More Compassionate World is a book about our inner and outer walls. It tells us how Homo sapiens became a WALL BUILDER, erecting more and more concrete and impermeable walls, thereby creating a world of division, separation, disconnection and alienation. The first part of the book Walls of Separation introduces … Read more
Over the past 10 years, Nigel Kermode on the Isle of Man has designed and built his art-deco-influenced house using hempcrete, made from the waste pith of the hemp plant stalk mixed with lime and water. A former art student with a background in architectural studies, Nigel decided he wanted to design and build his … Read more
This article describes simple, inexpensive way to make a recycled rainwater, solar-heated outdoor shower. Using materials found at a local hardware store, you first craft a rectangular rack to hold the shower head using 2x4s and 2x2s. Then screw eye hooks into the top to hang the rack wherever it’s convenient, or nail it to … Read more
Christopher Alexander, architect, academic and writer, died 17 March 2022; he was 85 years old. Christopher saw buildings and cities as living frameworks for human beings. He sought “to provide a complete working alternative to our present ideas about architecture, building and planning”. Like many critics of postwar reconstruction, he saw much that was destructive … Read more
The Matter. Space. Soul restaurant pavilion in Bangladesh is minimal in that entire elements constituting the mass of the structure are stripped away. What remains is a beacon of extreme utility related to vernacular construction and materials. The restaurant owner wished to extend his existing restaurant space, away from the metropolitan, wanting patrons to “breathe … Read more
Mud architecture in India has a rich history. Even today, more than 65 million of about 118 million houses in the country are made of mud. But this architecture is slowly being supplanted by concrete as the country progresses. A 47-year-old architect is looking to change our notions about mud housing. Mud architecture is associated with deprivation and … Read more