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.
sustainable
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.
Evaporative Refrigerator no electric bill
“This is my powerless Fridge design that can bring temps from 96deg down to 64deg.”
Straw Bale Mud House Weekend
“Friends and guests from all over the world came to our land in late January to help us build a natural straw bale and mud house for Tit Yai, an Issan man who is partially paralyzed. We were fortunate to have teachers from baandin.org and Michel Spann from Holland along with children and teachers from the Sri Sangwan Khon Kaen School for children with disabilities and many local Issan people help us make the house.”
Peter Cowman – The Shelter Maker
“The structures that Cowman helps build are an extension of the humans who he helps to build them. As he says, each of us have boundaries, just like houses. But beyond the physical self, a home should also reflect the intuitions and dreams of its occupants: Cowman calls this invisible architecture. The design process, it is stressed, begins the moment we imagine our ideal; in other words, when we dream. Homes, he says, quoting Jung, are an extension of oneself and one’s desires. But in order to dream effectively, we must first get in touch with our own lives.
