Versatile passive house to balance live/work, urban/country by Kirsten Dirksen on March 21, 2011 As an architect passionate about passive solar and urban live/work design, Alan Cohen got tired of waiting for a client …
A no-VOC earth plaster for a breathable, bioclimatic home by Kirsten Dirksen on November 29, 2010 Modern homes are often built so air-tight to provide good insulation that they don’t allow for fresh air to enter. …
Natural building: water-resistant earthen floors don’t off-gas by Kirsten Dirksen on November 3, 2010 Earthen floors are growing in popularity not simply because they forgo non-renewable resources, but because they have an aesthetic appeal …
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 …
128-sq-foot tiny house on wheels made from salvage by Kirsten Dirksen on August 23, 2010 Jenine Alexander built her own home using reclaimed materials she found at the dump or off craigslist. Total cost: the …
