Which natural building technique to build your dream home with?

No.033 — Read old posts on Tinyfarmlab.com
Reading Time 4 minutes

As architecture students, we were captivated by Earthships and their holistic approach to sustainable living.

While working as conventional architects, we fancied rammed earth due to its texture and the beauty of the layers of the wall. It has been gaining popularity in modern architecture.

We were only introduced to natural building techniques such as Earthbag, Strawbale, and Cob during the pandemic when we were trying to radically rethink our built environments.

All natural building techniques are good for the planet, good for the people, and resilient to natural calamities.

But reading Atulya's journey of building an earthbag house in her book Mud Ball, convinced us that we wanted to build an Earthbag house.

What made it an attractive option was that it was inexpensive and fast.

It could even work with 5% clay.

We read Kaki Hunter’s book Earthbag Building and validated our desires.

The next stop was a hands-on workshop. Geeli Mitti, a natural building training center in North India, was the only place offering a workshop as the lockdowns uplifted. Raghav went for an intensive natural building course only because it included Earthbag building.

It is there we fell in love with Cob. It was love at first touch. The tactile experience of working with Cob was enchanting. It evoked a sense of warmth and connection to the Earth.

Cob offered creative freedom and endless possibilities for artistic expression. It brings together a community.

You can craft curved walls, sculptural details, or functional elements like arches, benches, and shelves. Most importantly it brought play and joy in our lives.

We believe that cob is the ultimate material and that is why we built the Tiny Farm Fort using it.

Cob is the right fit for us.

But you don’t need to be biased like we are.

You can make a more informed choice by understanding the pros, the cons, the similarities, and the differences of other alternative building techniques.

Our friends at Build Outside the Box are back with their third mastermind course. It is a resource for those of you considering building a home with alternative and natural materials and want to discover which methods will best suit your climate, budget, skill level, and aesthetic.

It brings together builders, designers, and educators from around the world, each specializing in a different alternative building system.

There is a lesson on each method covering: materials, techniques, thermal and structural properties, and environmental/health benefits.

12 Eco-Alternative Building Methods In One Place from cob, earthbag to rammed earth. It includes classes from our heroes like Sigi Koko and Sasha.

It comes with a refund policy but we are sure that you will find value in it like we did.

As Tiny Farm Friends, you get to use our coupon code TFF100 and get $100 off.

Enroll Now. Today is the last date.

See you next Sunday!

Reply to us sharing what you thought about today’s newsletter.

Love,

Raghav and Ansh

PS: Check out our “No Agenda” residency for May-June.

What you can watch - Cob Is the Ultimate Building Material

We believe cob is, and has been the ultimate building material for thousands of years. Know why!

What you can listen to - The reality of natural building and designing for your climate with Ziggy Liloia from “The Year of Mud”: 086

In their chat, they talk about the reality (or realities) of natural building, including the importance of building for your climate, the true cost of building a natural home, and some common misconceptions about natural materials.

What You Can Read - Women in Natural Building

“ In almost all cultures over the last few centuries, we are usually taught that men are the ones who build, and women are the ones who decorate and maintain houses. However, many exceptions testify that this was not always the case: women built when there were no men in the family, when they died or went to war. “

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Tiny Farm Friends Newsletter.
Every Sunday, we share tiny valuable lessons to help you transition to the countryside and build naturally. S`