Kikuma Watanabe is an associate professor of architecture at Kochi University of Technology in Japan and is responsible for the design of several wonderful earthbag projects around the world. He collaborated with Akio Inoue (a Japanese professor of philosophy) on designing an eco-village near Lake Victoria in Uganda, and they have helped the Africans build … Read more
Why earthbag building is one of the best building methods. Sometimes we delve into esoteric aspects of earthbag building. For those new to building with bags, here is a summary of advantages. • Low cost (if you build simply and do most of the work yourself) • Durable (rammed earth structures such as earthbag can … Read more
Road base is a mixture of clay and gravel used in road building throughout the world. As an engineered material designed to withstand extreme loads (trucks and cars), you are assured of good working properties for earthbag building. While site based soils are less expensive and require less transport, the working properties are unknown and … Read more
Internship program Cost for 6-week internships: $1,200 The Geiger Research Institute of Sustainable Building announces a building internship training program in Sakon Nakhon, Thailand starting November, 2009. The internships largely involves a learning by doing approach with some classroom time. It encompasses earthbag building, sustainably harvested wood, earth plaster and floors, CEBs, adobe, thatch, and … Read more
We often get questions from people wondering how many bags they need to have on hand for some particular project. Is there a formula to figure this out? First you need to calculate the total square footage (or square meters) of the wall you intend to build. This can be done by simply multiplying the … Read more
I found another great way to build gable and vaulted roofs — with pallets: Pallet Pavilions The site referenced above shows how pallets can be used for walls and roofs. This is exciting because free pallets are usually quite easy to get in most countries and they’re very strong. Many are made of hardwood such … Read more