Natural building myths: tiny homes & green roofs by Kirsten Dirksen on October 26, 2010 The most attention-getting natural homes are often small and topped with a turf roof (see tiny cob cottages in Wales …
Earth-built passive solar home: cob (south), strawbale (north) by Kirsten Dirksen on October 18, 2010 Passive solar design dates back over 2 and a half millennia to the ancient Greeks and Chinese; it not only …
Natural buildings don’t melt, no matter how rainy it gets by Kirsten Dirksen on October 14, 2010 With all the videos I’ve done on earth buildings (like the tiny cob cottage in North Carolina or the mudbrick …
Choosing a natural building material: cob, straw, a blend… by Kirsten Dirksen on October 11, 2010 You may find cob cottages particularly cute, but taste isn’t reason enough to choose one natural building material over another. …
Natural building codes: some straw bale, but little for cob by Kirsten Dirksen on October 5, 2010 There’s plenty of historical evidence that natural buildings hold up to time- witness the adobe California Missions or the 13th-century …
How to build a straw bale wall: natural building expert tips by Kirsten Dirksen on September 30, 2010 Bales of straw may seem a bit simple, but they’re very effective for building a home. “Walls go up very …
Building your own bioclimatic home from earth and straw by Kirsten Dirksen on September 27, 2010 With very little instruction, anyone can build their own home, or so argues natural building expert Michael G. Smith. Since …
Natural building vindication: climate, comfort, health, budget by Kirsten Dirksen on September 25, 2010 Until relatively recently we all built our homes from local, unprocessed materials (i.e. stone, wood, straw, earth). Then came the …
Energy-efficient, affordable tiny cob home for modern hobbits by Kirsten Dirksen on November 10, 2009 It’s estimated that half of the world’s population lives in earth buildings, but for many countries this type of architecture …
The ultimate earth-friendly building material: mud by Kirsten Dirksen on May 30, 2009 When homebuilder Graeme Ellis decided to build a home for himself and his family 30 years ago, he looked to …
