Thanks for an awesome 2017!

“The future belongs to the few of us still willing to get our hands dirty.” – Roland Tiangco As the end of the year approaches, we want to wish you well over the festive season, and thank you for your support in 2017. You helped us finish the Delft...

Owner-builder journey ~ Franz Muhl: Energy flows where attention goes

In this edition of the Owner-builder journey, Franz Muhl writes about a mud brick addition to his Scarborough home: “Let me build a home from fertile materials that is beautiful and healthy to live in, have a very low footprint and would grow a forest if you...

Appropriate green building technologies as a catalyst for social change in creating climate change resilient communities

The Lebone project objective is to teach green building and social entrepreneurial skills to the youths and selected individuals from marginalised communities. The Lebone Village project in the Mangaung Metro Municipality Lebone Village, established in May 2000,...

Understanding earth III: Plaster and mortars mixes

(Please note that in order to understand what is written here you will need to have read my previous posts on understanding earth and testing earth) Plasters and mortars are by far the process that I get asked about the most, and for good reason as plasters are what...

Lebone Village launch

Imagine being outside on a chilly Free State winter morning with the sun just coming out and starting to gently warm your body. Now imagine being told to take off your shoes in order to trudge in icy cold mud. I glanced at my fellow volunteers and I saw a collective...

Understanding Earth II: Testing earth

By Peter McIntosh (Please note that in order to understand what is written here you will need to have read my previous post on understanding earth)   Earth requires two properties to make it strong enough for building, compressive and tensile strength. In much the...