Sustainable building at Ulwazi Educare with South Africa’s largest tyre building

by | Feb 1, 2022 | Alternative building, Cape Town, Cob, Community, Delft ECD, Early Childhood Development centre, Early Childhood Development centres, Earthen Schools, Ecobricks, Local materials, Natural building, Natural building methods, Natural plasters, Passive Solar Design, Peter McIntosh, Reclaimed materials, Sustainable building, Sustainable human settlements, Thermal performance, Tyre building

The buzzing building site at the Ulwazi Educare in Delft, Cape Town, has set the tone for what is promising to be the largest tyre building in South Africa. The early childhood development centre (ECD) was designed in collaboration with award-winning sustainable...

The story of the Delft ECD Training Centre

by | Jul 8, 2018 | Alternative building, Cape Town, City of Cape Town, Cob, Compressed Earth Brick (CEB), Delft ECD, Early Childhood Development centre, Early Childhood Development centres, Earthen Schools, Hybrid building, Natural building, Natural building methods, Natural plasters, Passive Solar Design, Peter McIntosh, Sustainable building, Sustainable human settlements, Tyre building

The Training Centre is a passive solar, earth sheltered building out of tyres, cob, compressed earth bricks, ecobricks and glass bottles at the Delft Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre. The design is centered around minimizing the use of cement and concrete...

Q&A with Jill Hogan, a pioneer of natural building in South Africa

by | Aug 9, 2016 | Alternative energy, Cob, Interview, Living Sustainably, Local materials, Natural building, Permaculture, Q&A, Sustainable building, Uncategorized, Wattle and Daub

In the first of our series of Q&As with pioneers of natural and sustainable building in South Africa and beyond, we caught up with Jill Hogan in honour of Women’s day in South Africa.  How did you first get involved in natural building?  In the early...

Transition Ethics: The Art of Compromise

by | Feb 29, 2016 | Alternative building, Anita Venter, Guest post, Living Sustainably, Local materials, Natural building, Permaculture, Peter McIntosh, Qala Phelang Tala, Reclaimed materials, Shack replacement, Start Living Green, Sustainable building, Sustainable human settlements, Uncategorized

Do we as ethical natural builders have a right to deny someone a home simply based on the argument of its purity? Surely it’s about having the humility to acknowledge that sustainability is about economy and social justice as much as it is about ecology. Scott...