Our Children’s House Design Contest is over and I’m sad to say we didn’t receive any entries. The contest idea was sparked by Jay, a frequent commenter here on our blog, who pointed out how housing styles can be dramatically altered with just a few changes.
home design
The Barefoot Architect — A Review
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.
Earth Houses + Name of Country
Looking at photos of natural houses is a fun way to learn about natural building. Almost half the homes in the world are made with earth (adobe, cob, rammed earth, earthbag, etc.), so there are countless photos of houses made like this on the Internet. Try searching for photos in your favorite search engine using the search terms: earth houses + the name of country you are interested in. Google Images is my current favorite (although the quality is slipping lately). Try various search terms to see what works best. You could try searching: earth dome or earth dome home or earth roundhouse or earth sheltered house. You get the idea. In foreign countries you could search similar words in the local language.
Steve’s Dome in Thailand — Take Two
The blog post the other day about Steve’s Dome in Thailand has caused quite a stir. Read the Comments there to get the background story. Here’s a follow-up report about what’s been happening since. The images of Steve’s home are spreading across the net very fast…borderline viral. This confirms my initial opinion that this home is worth taking a closer look at because it is so exceptional. (See his photo galleries here and here. However, I’m taking some flak for my decision to publish a home built with concrete (reader requested, by the way). This was the first and only time I’ve done this, but in this case I felt the home was exceptional enough and had many interesting features that could be used in houses made of sustainable materials. In other words, we can learn from studying homes built with all types of materials. This was all clearly explained in the original blog post.
Tiny House Tour that Houses Family of Four
“A tour of our tiny house. Built on Tumbleweed principles, we bought this 272sq ft house already built, then hauled it across the state and parked it in a garden. We bought it fully functional but very bare bones. We did major remodels to suit our personalities and needs. We have enjoyed living in our home for the last year and a half but the recent fourth edition to our family is making it feel more cramped. We will be moving soon. Hope you enjoy!”
Ferro-cement Dream House
“A friends hand built ferro cement dome house complete with roof top hot tub, heated by an internal pizza oven. Located well off the beaten track in the Far North of New Zealand.”