“More than 40 million people worldwide have been displaced from their homes and left to find shelter in strange lands. Maybe they find a tarp, or a tent, but their quality of life almost always remains dismal. To close this gap in need, Jordanian-Canadian architect and designer Abeer Seikaly designed a new kind of shelter. One that allows refugees to rebuild their lives with dignity.
The focus of our blog is on low cost, low tech housing solutions. But sometimes it’s good to stop and look at what’s happening in society. Even though I read about the economy every day, this article about the true rate of foreclosure is still shocking. Who wouldn’t be moved by what’s going on? Due to financial hardship, more people are investigating lower cost DIY housing alternatives such as earthbag building, straw bale construction, adobe and pole building.
The UN estimates 1.2 billion people lack adequate shelter and over one hundred million are homeless. Why is this happening when the solution is readily apparent and well proven? The answer lies in using locally available, natural building materials to construct affordable housing. Highly processed modern materials are not affordable for the masses and carry … Read more