Sea Ranch is a planned community along 10 miles of California’s northern Sonoma Coast that was developed in the early 1960’s. I remember driving past it around that time when I lived in Jenner, a few miles south of there. Sea Ranch was intended to be a second home community that embraced its surrounding environment. … Read more
Ten years ago the folks at Yogarriba had a vision to make something different, so they contacted the Earthship organization and soon started the Earthship houses in Bonaire, a Caribbean Island. It became a labor of love and they worked hard to make it a reality. Over several years they built two eco houses, with … Read more
The Sunflower House is located in Le Marche, Italy, known for its rolling farmland and yellow fields of sunflowers, which is the inspiration for the design is this house. The idea is to harness the power of the sun, so it’s roof and each floor rotate on sensors for maximum sun exposure or for optimal … Read more
In remote Pilbara, Western Australia, a new zig-zag structure is visible from the sky. What you can’t see are the 12 residences tucked beneath the rocky red soil. Architect Luigi Rosselli says that this project is the longest rammed earth wall in Australia, and possibly the entire Southern Hemisphere. “The Great Wall of WA” was … Read more
You can watch the video at www.youtube.com
Recently Kimi Ishikawa posted this comment on the blog post about building their tire bale house in New Mexico: I hear people referring to tire bales as “thermal mass” and others referring to them as “insulation.” It can’t be both, right? Aren’t “thermal mass” and “insulation” mutually exclusive? I understand “thermal mass” to be a … Read more