SOIL – Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods
SOIL received the highest honor in 2012 UNCCD Land for Life Award.
low cost
Wampanoag wetu: biodegradable house-dome before Bucky Fuller
“The Wampanoag people who lived along the U.S. East Coast built dome-shaped homes called wetus. The round shape was most efficient for heating or cooling the home evenly and for withstanding high winds and hurricanes. It also emerged naturally from the support structure built from saplings bent to create a frame. The winter homes were covered in bark and the summer homes were covered in mats woven from cattail reeds.
ICA Nepal Earthbag House
“Our Earthbag home is ready!! Woohoo!! 18 days of hard labour work and countless amount of dedication by our entire team of volunteers made this possible… Thank you everyone who supported us through thick and thin and in every way possible!”
Two-story Round Earthbag Building with Root Cellar in Belize
“Jaime Marin describes his experiment with building an earthbag root cellar in Belize. Using the most cost effective resources available at hand to develop a minimalistic but effective source of shelter and infrastructure for this transitional home project for children at Barzakh Falah in Georgeville, Belize. The project uses volunteer labor as it gets closer and closer to completion and minimal funds solely for materials.
Earthbag School in Goldhunga, Nepal
“Now Kathmandu’s outskirts also have an earthbag building! It will be used as an after-school house for the children of Goldhunga, a village located 30-minute drive from Thamel, in Kathmandu. It will be soon filled with computers, books and other supplies. Its size is 10x15ft and it is composed of one room and one floor.
Open Source Disaster Resistant Earthbag Homes for Nepal
From the archives — I realized yesterday that this open source disaster resistant earthbag house could be easily adapted to Nepal.
Add a roof of recycled wood and metal roofing and for very little money (under $1,000) you’d have a safe, decent home in short order. This design is 25 sq.m (270 sq.ft or about 16’x16’ interior) It’s extremely simple and easily to build.