In an effort to prove that a simple earthbag roundhouse could be built entirely with unskilled and inexperienced labor we made a leap of faith.
We bought a block of land on the island of Efate in Vanuatu. We intended to build a women’s centre and hoped to inspire pacific islanders to recycle and build safe affordable Eco housing. This is not a charity or a religious venture. It just started with one Australian family wanting to help some friends in a nearby island.
Another excellent video by Permies.com. This 12’x12′ cabin cost about $3,000.
“Matt, from Feral Farm, talks about a tiny house he built. This tiny house has a tiny kitchen space inside, and a much larger outdoor kitchen. Everything at Feral Farm is off grid, including this tiny house.
“In response to a recent post on the blog, I searched for Earthen Buildings East Africa to look for photographs and came across the following link:
http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1187&context=theses
[large file warning to those with slow Internet connections]
You may judge it worth publishing on your site as it, for a thesis, examines the properties of building bricks made from various materials for low-cost building in Africa but could be used anywhere as demonstrated by tests in central Tanzania with parallel results from California.
This blog post is short and to the point. Durability is one of the most important principles of sustainable building. The concept is very simple. Homes consume a lot of materials and take a great deal of time and effort to build, and so it makes sense to choose materials and building methods that last a long time. This goes hand-in-hand with choosing low maintenance materials. Choose carefully or you’ll end up spending an inordinate amount of time and money maintaining your home.
This is the first English edition of The Barefoot Architect by Johan van Lengen, originally written in Spanish, published in the 1980’s and distributed widely in Mexico and throughout Latin America. Shelter Publications made this new edition available in 2008 because of the relevance of the content to our current times.
This report is from a reader who goes by the name Ajarn Richard. This is where Steve Areen’s dome home is located and other unique structures such as the ones above.
“I’m staying at Miracle Springs right now. The owner is Hajjar Gibran, author, designer, builder. He is the great nephew to Kahlil Gibran, author of the “The Prophet” and has written the sequel to his great uncle’s masterpiece.
Hajjar and his wife Lumyai worked closely with Steve Areen to design and build his dome home out of cement block. Most recently, Hajjar has created a CEB press and a system for building with foam cement and is eager to experiment with these sustainable methods. They are also owners of the organic mango farm where Steve’s dome is located. The property has many of Hajjars creative structures on it. They plan to create an international center for learning various building methods as well as organic agriculture.