Reinventing the soil – Natural building with earth


“An investigation on building with mud, one of human kind’s oldest building methods, that is still present all around the world. The film starts from the University research and visits places where this tradition is alive, in Bolivia, Peru and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.”

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Earth Home Thailand (Maejo Baandin)

“The label “natural building” can refer to a wide variety of construction methods and materials. The natural buildings that we build at Earth Home are made from wood, clay, sand, rice husks, straw and water. Some cement is used in the foundation of the buildings. Since roofs are the most expensive element in the entire … Read more

The $100 House

Owner-built homes made with locally available materials can be constructed very inexpensively.
Owner-built homes made with locally available materials can be constructed very inexpensively.

A few years ago my girlfriend called me into the living room to see an adobe house on TV. “Quick”, she said, “it only cost $100”. I thought there must be some mistake, but I rushed over to see the house out of curiosity. To my surprise it was quite nice.

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Cast In-situ Adobe T-Bricks

Cast in-situ adobe T-bricks by Vela Creations.com
Cast in-situ adobe T-bricks by Vela Creations.com

The blog post the other day about cast in-situ adobe was quite popular and so let’s explore a variation of this method developed by Abe at Vela Creations.com. I consider Abe’s Tblocks a major contribution to the natural building movement – even good enough for a major magazine article. Keep reading to learn the details.

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The Architecture of Mud


Excellent documentary of adobe houses in Yemen. Highly recommended. This could be considered a must see video for serious natural builders and architects. The next time somebody asks me “Can you build more than one story with earthbags?” I should send them this link.

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