The Women’s Natural Building Collective in Portugal is run by a core group of experienced natural builders. They organize workshops for people to learn how to build ecological houses with local natural materials like earth, straw and timber. They discovered that there was something undeniably magical about the way they work and communicate together when … Read more
In 1968, Charles Bello and his wife, Vanna Rae, moved onto 240 acres of redwood forest looking to live a simpler life off the land. They had spent their savings to purchase the land so they got to work building their home themselves. Their first structure was a panelized A-frame that they erected in 5 … Read more
Clay has shaped Saudi Arabia’s architecture for centuries. Now, as the Kingdom’s construction boom accelerates, the ancient material is making a comeback as developers seek healthier, lower-carbon building finishes. The renewed interest reflects a broader shift in Saudi Arabia’s construction sector, where sustainability has become as important as speed and scale. From the restoration of … Read more
Karie Sullivan lives in an earth-berm house, burrowed into the ground on three sides. The front is clad in stained wood clapboard with white-trimmed windows with a sun-drenched southern exposure. The house was built in 1981 and was influenced by Malcolm Wells, a well-known architect who championed earth-sheltered buildings. Wells was not involved in the … Read more
The Alice Lynch House in Los Angeles was built in 1922 and is a rare example of the true adobe building technique, made with traditional stacked sun-dried mud blocks. The house was built using Mexican craftsmen skilled in the old methods. This is a two-story, roughly 2,500-square-foot home organized in a U-shape around a central courtyard. … Read more
“After my senior year of high school, I was living in Tanzania and noticed traditional building techniques were being replaced by foreign techniques that didn’t fit into the environment,” Ayodele Washington says. “So I learned about the traditional architecture of the Maasai house, which is basically a mud hut. They have been used for hundreds … Read more