PAHS Earthbag House

Earthen Hand Natural Building recently has created an 800 sf earthbag house on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. Passive Annual Heat Storage (PAHS) design features were used in this building, giving it the ability to heat and cool itself passively using the earth beneath the building and the walls themselves as a battery of … Read more

Rainwater Towers Apartments 2

Specifications: Four 16′ interior diameter roundhouses and one 12’ interior bath, total 842 sq. ft. interior, two bedrooms, one bath, Footprint: 50′ x 50′ Description: This three-story, triple roundhouse tower apartment complex is designed to provide affordable housing in urban areas. The towers are primarily earthen construction. Made with earthbag tubes filled with earth and … Read more

Why I’m Going to Build an Earthbag House

One of our readers sent this. “That’s the beauty of my future home site, it’s in county jurisdiction and well away from any towns in that county. I will not be getting the home inspected or buying any permits, the main reason for getting it inspected is to have it approved for insurance purposes, I … Read more

Dan Phillips: Creative Houses from Reclaimed Stuff

In this funny and insightful talk from TEDxHouston, builder Dan Phillips tours us through a dozen homes he’s built in Texas using recycled and reclaimed materials in wildly creative ways. Brilliant, low-tech design details will refresh your own creative drive. Phoenix Commotion.com

Whole-Tree Building: How to Craft Super-Natural Eco-Homes

Whole trees and parts of whole trees (naturally curved branches and wood) have 150% the strength of milled wood, are 100 times more abundant than millable old-growth forests, have similar weight to strength ratio as steel in compression and twice the strength of steel in tension, require almost no processing, and utilize wood that would … Read more