Traveling through Scotland you’ll eventually see some crumbling stone towers rising against the Highland peaks like ancient crag-top castles. These mysterious Iron Age monuments are known as brochs and they exist nowhere else in the world. These circular dry-walled structures a symbolic feature of the Scottish Highlands, but their purpose remains unknown. What is known … Read more
Bamboo Living co-founder and chief architect David Sands is at the forefront of modern sustainable bamboo construction. His Hawaiian-based company specializes in creating bamboo homes. The giant bamboos are the fastest-growing woody plant on the planet. If you go to the Guinness Book of World Records, it was nearly three feet a day that they … Read more
Retired smoke jumper and self-taught home builder Todd Jinkins of Boise, Idaho is currently building his first rammed earth home. It’s also the fourth home he’s built in the past 22 years. “Since the city wasn’t familiar with rammed earth, because this is the first one, it took me a while to get all the … Read more
Hong Kong is one of the last places in the world where bamboo is still widely used for scaffolding in construction. It’s flexible, strong and cheaper than metal alternatives that are now more commonly used around the world. In Hong Kong, skilled armies of scaffolders can erect enough bamboo to engulf a building in a … Read more
As a result of 2016 earthquake the 80 families who lived on the island of Portete, Ecuador were displaced to the mainland without any appropriate housing for the thermal conditions in the area. Materials of the area such as bamboo, wood, toquilla straw, and kade were replaced by zinc plates, blocks, and concrete. The traditional … Read more
Adobe is the humblest of building materials, for which earth, straw, and water are formed into bricks and then dried in the sun. It appears in arid places where dirt is the cheapest and most abundant natural resource. Adobe buildings have thick walls for structural integrity, and the earthen bricks can keep the interior cool. … Read more