by Peter McIntosh | Jun 23, 2017 | Adobe, Alternative building, Cape Town, City of Cape Town, Cob, Compressed Earth Brick (CEB), Early Childhood Development centre, Early Childhood Development centres, Earthen Schools, Hybrid building, Mud brick, Natural building, Natural plasters, Passive Solar Design, Peter McIntosh, Tyre building
We’ve launched a crowdfunding campaign because we really need your help to finish building the edu-centre in Delft so carers from informal crèches can get training in early childhood development. We are busy building a passive solar, earth sheltered building out of...
by Peter McIntosh | Nov 17, 2016 | Adobe, African Vernacular Architecture, Alternative building, Alternative energy, Compressed Earth Brick (CEB), Design competition, Heritage, Interview, Living off-grid, Local materials, Mud brick, Natural building, Natural building methods, Passive Solar Design, Q&A, Rammed Earth, Sustainable building, Sustainable human settlements, Thermal performance, Uncategorized
We catch up with Paul Marais about his award-winning off grid, rammed earth house in Maun, Botswana. First off, congratulations on winning the Afrisam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture + Innovation for Sustainable Product/Technology for your design of the rammed...
by Peter McIntosh | May 23, 2016 | Guest post, Local materials, Natural building, Natural building methods, Rammed Earth, Sustainable building, Uncategorized
Rammed earth construction in South Africa has generally been stigmatised as a substandard and primitive building construction method reserved ‘for the poor’. Yet it is now gaining popularity for community social projects, as well as among wealthier clients. By Mary...
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 Peter McIntosh | Jun 16, 2015 | Adobe, African Vernacular Architecture, Clay, Cob, Community, Guest post, Heritage, Indigenous Architectural Knowledge, Indigenous Building Systems, Local materials, Mud brick, Natural building, Natural building methods, Rammed Earth, Sustainable building, Sustainable human settlements, Thermal performance, Uncategorized
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...
