Heather's blog is much lovelier than this one. So read quickly and go to hers below! It covers similar territory. I just got very inspired by these little houses. This is a moon-cocoon. Or eco-dome. Here are some features.
1. Built from local earth-filled Superadobe coils (soil-cement or lime-stabilized earth).
2. Tree free.
3. Maximum use of space through alternative options.
4. Self-contained single unit (potential for a guest house or studio apartment) or double unit (larger family residence).
5. Can be repeated and joined together to form larger homes and courtyard houses.
6. Can be built by a team of 3-5 persons.
7. Designed with the sun, shade and wind in mind for passive cooling and heating.
8. Wind-scoop can be combined with a rated furnace unit, depending on local code approval. Solar energy and radiant heating may be incorporated.
9. Interior furniture can be built-in with same material.
Price: $2,400 for a single unit (400 sq. ft. approx), $3,200 for double unit (800 sq. ft. approx.)
"At the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (Cal-Earth), a school founded by the Iranian-born designer, Nader Khalili in 1986, students can learn about building simple "tree-free" projects that use just the basics - earth and water. Khalili developed a patented system called Superadobe, a technique of stacking sand bags layered with barbed wire to form a structure - preferably the most basic ancient forms of domes, beehives, vaults, and arches.
One of his basic buildings is the Eco-Dome, a small 400 square foot (interior space) series of domes built with Superadobe.
The Cal-Earth website has info on purchasing Stock Plans of the Eco-Dome and the Earth One 3-bedroom home."
Here is part of the process. It actually looks very simple! You could build a home like this and add beautiful wood kitchen counters (the only wood that may be so vey necessary) and cover the roof with grass and make a hobbit hut!
This photo below shows how strong the arches are! It's the same concept as the stucture of an egg shell or beehive. These are all from calearth.org.It's do-able. I do wonder about showers and toilets though!
7 comments:
Adie, this is so awesome! Is it really that cheap? I don't believe it. If it is I don't see why we couldn't all own one next year. So lets all save a little, I guess the main thing is where are we going to live. We might need to move outside of CA to be able to afford the kind of beautiful land we need. Love you xoxo
I looked further into it, and I think those prices are just for the plans for the home and the red tape type stuff....But still, I think building one could be easily under 10,000. So cheap for your own house!
i want to build one! i love the ladies standing on the sandbags, it is pretty incredible how they stay so strong. these homes are so beautiful and cool looking inside. i cannot wait to live in a hobbit hole. it is what i have always wanted. who knew how simple and cheap it would be??!! i kinda wish we could buy land in new zealand. i will look into the price of acreage in california. i think once some of us have "real" jobs we can get a decent loan. there is a lot to think about, and i know for sure we could get cheaper land in missouri or iowa or even tennessee, beautiful places indeed, but i am pretty convinced i want to stay in california. unless we can convince like the 30 most important people in our lives to come with us out there. and i need the ocean somewhat nearby, otherwise i will feel claustrophobic. and the atlantic just aint cuttin it. now the gulf of mexico, on the other hand, maybe that would do nicely. i bet we could find cheap fertile land in southern texas and use san antonio as our home base.???? or shall we stick to good ol CA?
you do realize how ridiculous those homes are. why don't we just use wood?
I don't know. The homes in California and around the nation are moving to dirt cheap, well never dirt cheap but in comparison to a year or so ago. Why not trees, Addie. And there would have to be flowers and outside growth, etc. I will admit, the structures look real inviting and practical. Anyway, fun to contemplate.
hi mikie. Thanks for you kindness.
Ummm... I love the ideas of some houses being made like this and some houses being made with trees. We have lived in normal houses our entire life, so why not build something unique and different and simple if we were to buy our own acreage? I love the idea of trying new things, and if you built one of these, even if it turned out weird or not perfect, you could use it as something! A playhouse for kids, recording music, an art studio, what have you! These structures cost barely a fraction of what it costs to build with wood is why.
i think there are other issues at stake as well, fam. i think there is a major sustainability issue staring us in the face. we use recycled paper, toilet paper and cloth grocery bags and yet the use of wood for construction is massive comparatively. these are ideas of new sources of building materials that are more eco-friendly. they also lend themselves to "greener" forms of heating and cooling. who wants a bunch of weird synthetic insulation that you can't touch without getting spiky invisible stuff in your skin? and that is what you need with wood. don't get me wrong, i love wooden buildings too and if we all lived in the caribbean, sure, i'd build cute little turquoise wooden houses with porches on stilts. but we live in california. we are lucky enough to have building options.
anyone who is doubtful about alternative building styles should go visit mary and ben's farm. their yoga studio is made of straw bales covered in clay, i believe, and it is the most comfortable and inviting, cool, circular room. ben can help us!
love you guys. keep dreaming!
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