I’ve been very interested in underground dome homes with living roofs for many years after my dome building Instructable went viral. The other day I was watching a video about Hacking Aircrete that showed the dome home featured here. One side has a geodesic greenhouse and the other has a skylight.
DIY
How the Mississippi shantyboats helped build a culture
“Long before Wes Modes began planning a journey down the Mississippi, he started building a traditional barge-bottom houseboat in a California backyard out of rustic reclaimed materials (e.g. old fences and chicken coops). Once his shantyboat was complete he hatched a plan to transport it across the country from Santa Cruz to Minnesota to begin a “Huck-Finn style” journey down the iconic American river.
Tiny house for under $5000
“Tiny house build from Aug. 2012 to Aug 2013, I did this all by myself, while working part-time. This tiny house only cost me $5000, I reused lots of things and found free stuff from craigslist. We are a family of 4, soon to be 5 and are living in a tiny house with kids. Living in a tiny house has given us financial freedom, and the ability to enjoy our kids more. We have reduced our cost of living greatly, reduced our energy consumption and uncluttered our lives!”
Standing Dead Timber
Store-bought lumber is cost prohibitive for many people. One good alternative for natural builders is using standing dead trees – trees that have been killed by insects or fire and are still standing. For best results, select trees that have been dead for only a few years. With some practice you’ll learn to identify sound timber that has little or no rot. The dead trees can be used in the round as posts and beams or milled into lumber. One key advantage is the logs have already dried naturally and are ready for use.
Earth Houses of Vilcabamba, Ecuador
I heard about rammed earth and adobe houses of Vilcabamba in a tourism video of Ecuador. Vilcabamba is famous for its natural beauty, perfect climate and high percentage of centenarians. Intrigued, I did some searching around on the Internet and discovered the following natural homes of interest. This shows how easy it is to find sustainable homes built of natural materials in most parts of the world now.
Bamboo Joint Lashing Techniques
Very good overview of bamboo joinery. Most books are skimpy on bamboo joinery. The whole house doesn’t haven’t to be built out of bamboo. You could build the roof, interior walls and/or just use bamboo for decorative purposes such as wall panels or drop grid ceilings.