What’s the Easiest Shape to Build?

Roundhouses, especially ones with a lightweight roof, get my vote for the easiest shape to build. This obviously goes against conventional thinking that uses modern materials such as plywood and sheetrock. Sure, there’s a certain degree of efficiency in building rectangular structures with modern materials — they do go up quickly. But the logic falls … Read more

Our Roundhouse in Fall

It’s fun watching the roundhouse through the seasons. No matter what time of year, it always looks great. Our earthbag dome has been more popular on the Internet, but locally the roundhouse is far more popular. Everyone loves it. Note the earthbag bench under the tree. This is the third one we’ve built, not counting … Read more

60 House Plans Upgraded to Computer Renderings

My goal last year was to upgrade 40 of my most popular plans. This has now been completed, along with 20 additional designs. So there are now 60 finished plans available, including this new Roundhouse with Yurt. In this design, the roundhouse provides low cost space and a stable base for the yurt. The elevated … Read more

Instructable: How to Build an Earthbag Roundhouse

Due to the enormous popularity of my first earthbag instructable, I’ve added a new one about building roundhouses. This is the most comprehensive earthbag roundhouse information published anywhere on the Internet, with step-by-step directions and lots of photos. “We built this earthbag roundhouse in 2010 as part of an earthbag workshop in Thailand, and finished … Read more

Finished Earthbag Roundhouse Video

This is the finished roundhouse that we built in 2010. The walls were built during our April workshop, and plaster and finish work continued through May and June at a slower pace. To say the least, we’ve very happy with the results. If you want to learn more, you can search this blog for the … Read more

Roundhouse Update

People keep asking for an update on our roundhouse, so here are some recent pics. Things are coming along nicely, although there are still numerous loose ends to finish: light fixtures, interior plaster touch up, cleaning tile (ugh) and landscaping. We’re very happy with the outcome and, of course, highly recommend this building method to … Read more