Great Zimbabwe is an extensive Iron Age stone city whose surviving walls are impressive. Built between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries by ancestors of the Shona people, it became the center of a powerful inland kingdom whose name later passed to the modern state of Zimbabwe. Great Zimbabwe occupies gently undulating country in south-eastern Zimbabwe. … Read more
In the Black Forest of Colorado is a unique Earthship. Walls and floors are a custom adobe blend designed as a heat sink, with much of it filled into 1,500 old tires and 11,000 aluminum cans that add structural support. There are also PV panels that deliver up to 20 kilowatts of solar electricity. The … Read more
This earth-sheltered property in Ohio is built almost entirely under the ground, with a roof that provides spectacular protection from the elements, but does require the odd trim now and then. About 90% of it is underground, built into the side of a hill and then covered witb dirt. The interior is very much that … Read more
Tracy King found the perfect, 80-acre piece of land near Hye, Texas. It was a beautiful spread, shadowed by gorgeous live oaks and cedar elms. Her first order of business was stewardship of the land that had been long neglected. King conceived of a main home that would honor the wild, inherent beauty she fought to … Read more
Eight leading architects explain where their architectural ambition is heading. We explore how these buildings use less energy, generate power, support biodiversity, and respond to a hotter, more unpredictable climate. For Norman Foster, environmental thinking is hardly new. He has explored energy, climate, natural ventilation, and resource efficiency since the practice’s early projects, when such … Read more
The Homestead House is a conceptual design that takes the prefabricated steel arch building system ordinarily found on agricultural properties, and reorganizes it into a modular, off-grid residential structure. The system is already commercially available, already engineered for structural strength, and already fire-resistant. The arches and straight panels are formed from thin, recyclable steel sheets … Read more