“We would like to tell you about our very exciting Earthbag build project in Nepal. We are a New Zealand registered charity providing quality early childhood and school support projects in rural Nepal. Our projects have been so successful that we now want to offer training to as many teachers as possible. Therefore, we are constructing an earthbag building Teacher Training Centre in our project area, 3 hours north of Kathmandu in 2014/15. Fundraising is well under way for the project and we hope to be able to start on schedule.
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Rebuilding Gaza with Earthbag Homes
The following article was written by Meinhaj Hussain.
8/11/2014 Meinhaj Hussain, m.hussain@grandestrategy.com
“So Gaza has suffered and is suffering massive targeted genocide. Large swathes of Gaza look like Dresden. How can we rebuild with a blockade? Earthbag houses may be one solution. All one needs is earth and readily available bags.
Mud House Design 2014 Competition
Reinventing the African Mud Hut Together
Nka Foundation invites entries for Mud House Design 2014, an international architecture competition open to recent graduates and students of architecture, design and others from around the world who think earth architecture can be beautiful. The challenge is to design a single-family unit of about 30 x 40 feet (approximately 10 x 12 metres) to be built by maximum use of earth and local labor in the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
This is the design problem: In Ghana, as in other countries in West Africa, stereotypes about buildings made of earth persist because of poor construction. From the cities to the low-income villages, use of concrete – despite its dependence on imported resources – is considered indispensable for building. Yet an excellent, cheap and local alternative called laterite, red earth, is available everywhere in Ghana. The long-term goal is to enable the Ghanaian population and lots of other places, to overcome the stigma that mud architecture is architecture for the very poor.
Nka Foundation Announces Jury Members for MUD HOUSE DESIGN 2014 competition for Ghana. The jury consists of pre-selection jurors and grand jurors. The Pre-Selection Jury will review all design entries and select the overall Top 20 Designs and presented them to the Grand Jury, who will then select the winning designs. The Jury session runs from September 15 – September 30, 2014. Those interested in participating in the competition can still register on https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mud-house-design-competition-tickets-10697036123 till August 15, 2014.
Reader Questions: How to Build in Walsenburg, Colorado
Hello. I’m looking to build a house in Walsenburg Colorado (6,171 ft. elevation). There are several natural/alternative techniques that I am considering:(straw bale. earth bag. sip’s. ICF. aac.) I am wondering which one of these would get the highest overall score
Steel Framed Earthbag Buildings in Tanzania
“Good day Mr. Geiger. I have a small construction company in Tanzania. Just more than 2 years ago I started doing earthbag buildings and up to now have done 24 buildings.
Free Training Materials for Natural Builders
I’ve been corresponding with a long time reader about how to develop low cost natural building training courses. The idea is to provide a range of free and low cost training materials that instructors can choose from to develop training programs for students. Kelly and I have already made a pretty good start with our videos, free plans, online articles, blog posts and Instructables. Some of these are listed below for ease of reference. These free materials could be supplemented with my low cost Earthbag Building Guide and/or DVD.