by Peter McIntosh | Nov 23, 2015 | Adobe, Architecture award, Clay, Cob, Compressed Earth Brick (CEB), Design competition, Events, Light Earth, Mud brick, Natural building, Strawbale, Sustainable building, Sustainable human settlements
The TERRA award is a collaborative effort on an international scale to enable both professionals and the general public to fully appreciate earth’s increasing popularity as a building material of high aesthetic and technical quality. Earth is becoming...
by Franz Muhl | Apr 5, 2015 | Adobe, Clay, Cob, Franz Muhl, Living Sustainably, Local materials, Mud brick, Natural building, Natural building course, Natural plasters, Owner-builder journey, Peter McIntosh, Reclaimed materials, Sand, Sustainable building, Sustainable human settlements
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...
by Peter McIntosh | Nov 9, 2014 | Adobe, Clay, Cob, Compressed Earth Brick (CEB), Earth testing, Earth theory, Natural building, Natural building methods, Natural mortar mixes, Natural plasters, Peter McIntosh, Sustainable building
(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...
by QPT Qala Phelang Tala | Oct 26, 2014 | Amanda de Gouveia, Anita Venter, Clay, Cob, Community, Earth testing, Local materials, Natural building, Qala Phelang Tala, Start Living Green, Sustainable human settlements
I came to learn how to build a cob wall; instead I learned the story of my life before I even stepped onto the building site. It was day 18 at the Freedom Square shack replacement building site in Bloemfontein, but my first day on the premises. The walls of Lientjie’s...
by QPT Qala Phelang Tala | Sep 30, 2014 | Adobe, Amanda de Gouveia, Anita Venter, Clay, Cob, Community, Earth testing, Events, Insulation, Local materials, Mud brick, Natural building, Peter McIntosh, Qala Phelang Tala, Sand, Start Living Green, Sustainable human settlements
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...
