Integral Urban House
Encyclopedia
The Integral Urban House was a pioneering 1970s
experiment in self-reliant urban homesteading
. The house was located 1576 Fifth St. in Berkeley, California
. The founders were California State Architect Sim Van der Ryn
and Bill &
Helga Olkowski, and the project was run by the Farallones Institute (which Van der Ryn founded).
The Sierra Club
published a book about the experiment in 1974. Elements of the home included a vegetable garden, chickens, rabbits, a fish pond, beehives, a composting toilet
, solar power and more.
Mother Earth News
published an article on the house in 1976.
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
experiment in self-reliant urban homesteading
Urban Homesteading
Urban homesteading can refer to several different things: programs by local, state, and federal agencies in the USA who work to help get people into city homes, squatting, practicing urban agriculture, or practicing sustainable living techniques....
. The house was located 1576 Fifth St. in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. The founders were California State Architect Sim Van der Ryn
Sim Van der Ryn
Sim Van der Ryn is acknowledged as a leader in "sustainable architecture." He is also a researcher and educator. Van der Ryn's driving professional interest has been applying principles of physical and social ecology to architecture and environmental design....
and Bill &
Helga Olkowski, and the project was run by the Farallones Institute (which Van der Ryn founded).
The Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
published a book about the experiment in 1974. Elements of the home included a vegetable garden, chickens, rabbits, a fish pond, beehives, a composting toilet
Composting toilet
A composting toilet is a dry toilet that using a predominantly aerobic processing system that treats excreta, typically with no water or small volumes of flush water, via composting or managed aerobic decomposition...
, solar power and more.
Mother Earth News
Mother Earth News
Mother Earth News is a bi-monthly American magazine that has a circulation of 475,000. It is based in Topeka, Kansas.Approaching environmental problems from a down-to-earth, practical, how-to standpoint, Mother Earth News has, since the magazine’s founding in 1970, been a pioneer in the promotion...
published an article on the house in 1976.