Straw + clay + water = cob, an old construction technique that can be used for walls, benches and entire homes. The folks at the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, California are mixing it with their hands and feet and using it to rebuild their intern center.

Besides cob, the project is taking shape from other recycled and sustainable materials, like broken concrete, straw bale, clay and wine bottles. In this video, institute development director Doron Amiran showed us how it’s being done.