Guest post: Hybrid alternative and natural building blocks at the Delft ECD (Early Childhood Development Centre)

Guest post: Hybrid alternative and natural building blocks at the Delft ECD (Early Childhood Development Centre)

In Delft, an impoverished township on the outskirts of the Cape Flats, local government is changing its approach to building early childhood development centres (ECDs) with a pioneering project showcasing a hybrid of natural building methods and up-cycled waste...

From the ground up ~ approaches to building a foundation for your natural building

The foundation of your natural building needs to be well-considered as the integrity of your building rests here. Decisions you make about your foundation depend on the materials you have available, the type of ground you have to build on and what carbon footprint you...

The dynamic qualities of African Vernacular Architecture

In this guest post by Jon Sojkowski, he chronicles common misperceptions of African vernacular architecture and how it is being abandoned for the status that comes with living in conventional Western style buildings. He asks whether these modern materials are truly...

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...