Natural building
Encyclopedia
A natural building involves a range of building
systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability
. Ways of achieving sustainability through natural building focus on durability and the use of minimally processed, plentiful or renewable resource
s, as well as those that, while recycled
or salvaged, produce healthy living environments and maintain indoor air quality. Natural building tends to rely on human labor, more than technology. As Michael G. Smith observes, it depends on "local ecology, geology and climate; on the character of the particular building site, and on the needs and personalities of the builders and users."
The basis of natural building is the need to lessen the environmental
impact of buildings and other supporting systems, without sacrificing comfort, health or aesthetics
. To be more sustainable, natural building uses primarily abundantly available, renewable, reused or recycled materials. The use of rapidly renewable materials is increasingly a focus. In addition to relying on natural building materials, the emphasis on the architectural design is heightened. The orientation of a building, the utilization of local climate and site conditions, the emphasis on natural ventilation through design, fundamentally lessen operational costs and positively impact the environmental. Building compactly and minimizing the ecological footprint
is common, as are on-site handling of energy acquisition, on-site water capture, alternate sewage treatment and water reuse.
(clay blocks). Other materials commonly used in natural building are: earth (as rammed earth
or earth bag
), wood (cordwood
or timber frame/post-and-beam), straw
, rice-hulls, bamboo
and rock
. A wide variety of reused or recycled materials are common in natural building, including urbanite (salvaged chunks of used concrete), tires, tire bales, discarded bottles and other recycled glass.
Several other materials are increasingly avoided by many practitioners of this building approach, due to their major negative environmental or health impacts. These include unsustainably harvested wood, toxic wood-preservatives, portland cement
-based mixes, paints and other coatings that off-gas volatile organic compound
s (VOCs), and some plastics, particularly polyvinyl chloride
(PVC or "vinyl") and those containing harmful plasticizers or hormone-mimicking formulations.
Various claims are made about the optimal proportions of clay and sand (or larger aggregate). Some say that the best adobe soil contains 15% - 30% clay to bind the material together. Others say equal proportions of clay and sand are best to prevent cracking or fragmenting of the bricks. Sometimes adobe is stabilized with a small amount of cement or asphalt
emulsion to provide better weatherproofing. The blocks can either be poured into molds and dried, or pressed into blocks. Adobe colored with clay and polished with natural oil makes an attractive and resilient floor.
To protect the walls and reduce maintenance, adobe buildings usually have large overhanging eaves and sizeable foundations. Adobe can be plastered over with cob or lime-based mixes for both appearance and protection. Adobe has good thermal mass, meaning that it is slow to transmit heat or cold. It is not a good insulator, however, so insulation can be added (preferably on the outside), or a double wall built with airspace or insulation in between. The traditional thick, un-insulated adobe has proven to perform best in regions without harsh winters or where daily sun is predictably available during those cold periods.
The term cob is used to describe a monolithic building system based on a mixture of clay, sand and straw. The construction uses no forms, bricks or wooden framework; it is built from the ground up. Various forms of "mud" building have been used in many parts of the world for centuries, under a variety of names, and date from at least 10,000 years ago. Cob building began use in England prior to the 13th century, and fell out of favor after World War I, although it is seeing a resurgence today. Cob is one of the simplest and least expensive building techniques available, though it is typically very labor-intensive. Cob's other great advantage is versatility; It can easily be shaped into any form. While cob building was falling out of favor in England by the late 19th century, thousands of cob structures have endured to the present (20,000 in Devon
, England alone). It is estimated that from one third to one half of the world's population lives in earthen dwellings today. Although typically associated with "low-rise" structures, in Yemen
and other Middle-Eastern countries, it has, for centuries, been used in "apartment" buildings of eight stories and more.
Cob-like mixes are also used as plaster or filler in several methods of natural building, such as adobe, earth bags, timber frames, cordwood, and straw bales. Earth is thus a primary ingredient of natural building.
Cordwood construction is a term used for a natural building method in which "cordwood" or short lengths pieces of debarked tree are laid up crosswise with masonry
or cob
mixtures to build a wall. The cordwood, thus, becomes infill for the walls, usually between posts in a timber frame structure. Cordwood masonry can be combined with other methods (e.g., rammed earth
, cob or light clay
) to produce attractive combinations. Cordwood masonry construction provides a relatively high thermal mass
, which helps to minimise fluctuations in temperature.
)
Rammed earth walls are formed in place by pounding damp sub-soil (gravel, sand, and clay) into movable, reusable forms with manual or machine-powered tampers. A mixture of around 70% aggregate (gravel,sand) and 30% clay is optimal. Cement may be added if the mix requires it or pigmentation to achieve the desired color. Around 5-10 inches of mixed damp sub-soil are placed inside the forms and pounded to total compaction and the process is repeated until the desired height is achieved. What is left after the forms are removed is a wall that is structural and can last over 1000 years.
Locally obtained stone has been used as natural construction material for centuries. Combined with modern engineering and materials such as concrete and steel, a durable, low-impact building can be constructed.
Although grasses and straw
have been in use in a range of ways in building since pre-history around the world, their incorporation in machine-manufactured modular bales
seems to date back to the early 20th century in the midwestern United States, particularly the sand-hills of Nebraska
, where grass was plentiful and other building materials (even quality sod
s) were not. Straw bale building typically consists of stacking a series of rows of bales (often in running-bond) on a raised footing or foundation
, with a moisture barrier between. Bale walls are often tied together with pins of bamboo, rebar, or wood (internal to the bales or on their faces), or with surface wire meshes, and then stucco
ed or plaster
ed, either with cement
aceous mixes, lime-based formulations or earth/clay renders. Bale buildings can either have a structural frame of other materials, with bales between (simply serving as insulation and stucco substrate), referred to as "infill",or the bales may actually provide the support for openings and roof, referred to as "load-bearing" or "Nebraska-style", or a combination of framing
and load-bearing may be employed, referred to a "hybrid" straw bale.
Typically, bales created on farms with mobile machinery have been used ("field-bales"), but recently higher-density "recompressed" bales (or "straw-blocks") are increasing the loads that may be supported; where field bales might support around 600 pounds per linear foot of wall, the high density bales bear up to 4,000 lb./lin.ft. and more. And the basic bale-building method is now increasingly being extended to bound modules of other often-recycled materials, including tire-bales, as well as those of cardboard, paper, plastics and used carpeting, and to bag-contained "bales" of wood-chips, rice-hulls, etc.
The essential elements of timber frame building—joined timbers, clay walls and thatch roofs were in place in Europe and Asia by the 9th century. It remained the common mode of house construction in northern cultures until the 19th century. Craftsmanship was, and is, an important value in timber frame building. The oldest timber frame structures (for example, the timber framed stave churches of Scandinavia
) show both craftsmanship and a strong grasp of the technical aspects of structural design, as do such structures in Japan
.
Timber framing typically uses a "bent." A bent is a structural support, like a truss
, consisting of two posts, a tie beam and two rafters. These are connected into a framework through joinery. To practice the craft, one must understand the basic structural aspects of the bent. This, along with a knowledge of joiner
y, are the basis of timber frame building.
Timber framing is now a modern method of construction, Ideally suited to mass house building as well as public buildings. In conjunction with a number of natural insulations and timber cladding or modern lime render
s, it is possible to quickly construct a high performance, sustainable building, using completely natural products. The benefits are many—the building performs better over its lifespan, waste is reduced (much can be re-cycled, composted or used as fuel). Timber frame structures are frequently used in combination with other natural building techniques, such as cob, straw bale, or cordwood/masonry.
, or berm
ing, "green
" or "living" planted roofs, thatched roofs and cement-free earthen floor
s, rubble-trench
, or gabion
foundations.
To increase sustainability, various approaches to lower energy consumption are used in conjunction with natural building: sun-shading or other passive cooling
techniques, passive solar heating, geo-exchange heating and cooling, "short-cycle" and "annualized" passive (and PV-assisted) solar space and water heating, hot water heat recycling
, biologic air purification by indoor plants, passive or air-to-air/heat-recovery ventilation, solar or annualized cooling, insulated glazing and selective glazing films, night and cold-weather "movable" insulation, or on-site electric power generation by renewable energy
in the form of photovoltaics
(PV), wind generators, or micro-hydro (either with fully independent systems referred to as "off-grid" or with "grid-tied" systems feeding into the public electric network), low-voltage electric and avoidance of electro-magnetic and other possibly harmful forms of radiation.
Other green building strategies that improve conservation of resources include: rain-water catchment, storage
, and purification; waste-water separation; biological waste-water purification and grey-water reuse; composting toilets, on-site snow/rain-water run-off management, bioswales, permeable paving
, native or low-water-use ("xeriscape") landscapes, and accommodation of alternative-fuelled/powered and human-powered vehicles.
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...
systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
. Ways of achieving sustainability through natural building focus on durability and the use of minimally processed, plentiful or renewable resource
Renewable resource
A renewable resource is a natural resource with the ability of being replaced through biological or other natural processes and replenished with the passage of time...
s, as well as those that, while recycled
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
or salvaged, produce healthy living environments and maintain indoor air quality. Natural building tends to rely on human labor, more than technology. As Michael G. Smith observes, it depends on "local ecology, geology and climate; on the character of the particular building site, and on the needs and personalities of the builders and users."
The basis of natural building is the need to lessen the environmental
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
impact of buildings and other supporting systems, without sacrificing comfort, health or aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
. To be more sustainable, natural building uses primarily abundantly available, renewable, reused or recycled materials. The use of rapidly renewable materials is increasingly a focus. In addition to relying on natural building materials, the emphasis on the architectural design is heightened. The orientation of a building, the utilization of local climate and site conditions, the emphasis on natural ventilation through design, fundamentally lessen operational costs and positively impact the environmental. Building compactly and minimizing the ecological footprint
Ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems. It is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to...
is common, as are on-site handling of energy acquisition, on-site water capture, alternate sewage treatment and water reuse.
Materials
The materials common to many types of natural building are clay and sand. When mixed with water and, usually, straw or another fiber, the mixture may form cob or adobeAdobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
(clay blocks). Other materials commonly used in natural building are: earth (as rammed earth
Rammed earth
Rammed earth, also known as taipa , tapial , and pisé , is a technique for building walls using the raw materials of earth, chalk, lime and gravel. It is an ancient building method that has seen a revival in recent years as people seek more sustainable building materials and natural building methods...
or earth bag
Earthbag construction
Earthbag construction is an inexpensive method to create structures which are both strong and can be quickly built. It is a natural building technique that evolved from historic military bunker construction techniques and temporary flood-control dike building methods...
), wood (cordwood
Cordwood construction
Cordwood construction is a term used for a natural building method in which "cordwood" or short pieces of debarked tree are laid up crosswise with masonry or cob mixtures to build a wall.-Construction:Walls are usually constructed such that the pieces of wood are "proud" of...
or timber frame/post-and-beam), straw
Straw-bale construction
Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses bales of straw as structural elements, building insulation, or both...
, rice-hulls, bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
and rock
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
. A wide variety of reused or recycled materials are common in natural building, including urbanite (salvaged chunks of used concrete), tires, tire bales, discarded bottles and other recycled glass.
Several other materials are increasingly avoided by many practitioners of this building approach, due to their major negative environmental or health impacts. These include unsustainably harvested wood, toxic wood-preservatives, portland cement
Portland cement
Portland cement is the most common type of cement in general use around the world because it is a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco and most non-specialty grout...
-based mixes, paints and other coatings that off-gas volatile organic compound
Volatile organic compound
Volatile organic compounds are organic chemicals that have a high vapor pressure at ordinary, room-temperature conditions. Their high vapor pressure results from a low boiling point, which causes large numbers of molecules to evaporate or sublimate from the liquid or solid form of the compound and...
s (VOCs), and some plastics, particularly polyvinyl chloride
Polyvinyl chloride
Polyvinyl chloride, commonly abbreviated PVC, is a thermoplastic polymer. It is a vinyl polymer constructed of repeating vinyl groups having one hydrogen replaced by chloride. Polyvinyl chloride is the third most widely produced plastic, after polyethylene and polypropylene. PVC is widely used in...
(PVC or "vinyl") and those containing harmful plasticizers or hormone-mimicking formulations.
Techniques
Many traditional methods, techniques, and materials, are now experiencing a resurgence of popularity, however the relative popularity of these techniques differs around the World.Adobe
One of the oldest building methods, adobe is simply clay and sand mixed with water. Sometimes chopped straw or other fibers are added for strength. The mixture is then allowed to dry in the desired shape. Usually adobe is shaped into bricks that can be stacked to form walls.Various claims are made about the optimal proportions of clay and sand (or larger aggregate). Some say that the best adobe soil contains 15% - 30% clay to bind the material together. Others say equal proportions of clay and sand are best to prevent cracking or fragmenting of the bricks. Sometimes adobe is stabilized with a small amount of cement or asphalt
Asphalt
Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...
emulsion to provide better weatherproofing. The blocks can either be poured into molds and dried, or pressed into blocks. Adobe colored with clay and polished with natural oil makes an attractive and resilient floor.
To protect the walls and reduce maintenance, adobe buildings usually have large overhanging eaves and sizeable foundations. Adobe can be plastered over with cob or lime-based mixes for both appearance and protection. Adobe has good thermal mass, meaning that it is slow to transmit heat or cold. It is not a good insulator, however, so insulation can be added (preferably on the outside), or a double wall built with airspace or insulation in between. The traditional thick, un-insulated adobe has proven to perform best in regions without harsh winters or where daily sun is predictably available during those cold periods.
Cob
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, England alone). It is estimated that from one third to one half of the world's population lives in earthen dwellings today. Although typically associated with "low-rise" structures, in Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
and other Middle-Eastern countries, it has, for centuries, been used in "apartment" buildings of eight stories and more.
Cob-like mixes are also used as plaster or filler in several methods of natural building, such as adobe, earth bags, timber frames, cordwood, and straw bales. Earth is thus a primary ingredient of natural building.
Cordwood
Masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone, marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, stucco, and...
or cob
Cob (building)
Cob or cobb or clom is a building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe. Cob is fireproof, resistant to seismic activity, and inexpensive...
mixtures to build a wall. The cordwood, thus, becomes infill for the walls, usually between posts in a timber frame structure. Cordwood masonry can be combined with other methods (e.g., rammed earth
Rammed earth
Rammed earth, also known as taipa , tapial , and pisé , is a technique for building walls using the raw materials of earth, chalk, lime and gravel. It is an ancient building method that has seen a revival in recent years as people seek more sustainable building materials and natural building methods...
, cob or light clay
Light clay
Light clay is a natural building material used to infill between a wooden frame in a timber framed building using a combination of clay and straw, woodchips or some other lighter material....
) to produce attractive combinations. Cordwood masonry construction provides a relatively high thermal mass
Thermal mass
Thermal mass is a concept in building design which describes how the mass of the building provides "inertia" against temperature fluctuations, sometimes known as the thermal flywheel effect...
, which helps to minimise fluctuations in temperature.
Earthbag
Earth is the most typical fill material used in bag-wall construction techniques. This building method utilizes stacked polypropylene or natural-fiber (burlap) bags filled with earth or other mixes, with or without a stabilizer such as portland cement, to form footings, foundations, walls and even vaulted or domed roofs. In recent years, building with earth bags has become one of the increasingly practiced techniques in natural building. It facilitates self-contained, often free-form rammed-earth structures. Its growing popularity relates to its use of an abundant and readily available often site-available material (earth) in a potentially inexpensive building technique that is flexible, and easy to learn and use. However, because earth is a poor insulator, in more extreme climates other filler variations are now being explored, substituting pumice, rice-hulls or another material with better insulating value for all or part of the earth (see also Rice-hull bagwall constructionRice-hull bagwall construction
Rice-hull bagwall construction is a system of building, with results aesthetically similar to the use of earthbag or cob construction, in which woven polypropylene bags are tightly filled with raw rice-hulls, and these are stacked up, layer upon layer, with strands of four-pronged barbed wire...
)
Rammed earth
Rammed earth is an earth-based wall system made of compacted gravel, sand, and clay; that is extremely strong and durable. Quality rammed earth walls are dense, solid, and stone-like with great environmental benefits and superior low maintenance characteristics. As an option depending on climate or seismic concerns rigid insulation can be placed inside the wall as well as steel reinforcement. Rammed earth has been used for around 10,000 years in all types of buildings from low rise to high-rise and from small huts to palaces.Rammed earth walls are formed in place by pounding damp sub-soil (gravel, sand, and clay) into movable, reusable forms with manual or machine-powered tampers. A mixture of around 70% aggregate (gravel,sand) and 30% clay is optimal. Cement may be added if the mix requires it or pigmentation to achieve the desired color. Around 5-10 inches of mixed damp sub-soil are placed inside the forms and pounded to total compaction and the process is repeated until the desired height is achieved. What is left after the forms are removed is a wall that is structural and can last over 1000 years.
Stone, granite, and concrete
Straw bale
Straw
Straw is an agricultural by-product, the dry stalks of cereal plants, after the grain and chaff have been removed. Straw makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has many uses, including fuel, livestock bedding and fodder, thatching and...
have been in use in a range of ways in building since pre-history around the world, their incorporation in machine-manufactured modular bales
Baler
A baler is a piece of farm machinery used to compress a cut and raked crop into compact bales that are easy to handle, transport and store...
seems to date back to the early 20th century in the midwestern United States, particularly the sand-hills of Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
, where grass was plentiful and other building materials (even quality sod
Sod
Sod or turf is grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of thin material.The term sod may be used to mean turf grown and cut specifically for the establishment of lawns...
s) were not. Straw bale building typically consists of stacking a series of rows of bales (often in running-bond) on a raised footing or foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
, with a moisture barrier between. Bale walls are often tied together with pins of bamboo, rebar, or wood (internal to the bales or on their faces), or with surface wire meshes, and then stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
ed or plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
ed, either with cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
aceous mixes, lime-based formulations or earth/clay renders. Bale buildings can either have a structural frame of other materials, with bales between (simply serving as insulation and stucco substrate), referred to as "infill",or the bales may actually provide the support for openings and roof, referred to as "load-bearing" or "Nebraska-style", or a combination of framing
Framing (construction)
Framing, in construction known as light-frame construction, is a building technique based around structural members, usually called studs, which provide a stable frame to which interior and exterior wall coverings are attached, and covered by a roof comprising horizontal ceiling joists and sloping...
and load-bearing may be employed, referred to a "hybrid" straw bale.
Typically, bales created on farms with mobile machinery have been used ("field-bales"), but recently higher-density "recompressed" bales (or "straw-blocks") are increasing the loads that may be supported; where field bales might support around 600 pounds per linear foot of wall, the high density bales bear up to 4,000 lb./lin.ft. and more. And the basic bale-building method is now increasingly being extended to bound modules of other often-recycled materials, including tire-bales, as well as those of cardboard, paper, plastics and used carpeting, and to bag-contained "bales" of wood-chips, rice-hulls, etc.
Timber frame
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
) show both craftsmanship and a strong grasp of the technical aspects of structural design, as do such structures in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Timber framing typically uses a "bent." A bent is a structural support, like a truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
, consisting of two posts, a tie beam and two rafters. These are connected into a framework through joinery. To practice the craft, one must understand the basic structural aspects of the bent. This, along with a knowledge of joiner
Joiner
A joiner differs from a carpenter in that joiners cut and fit joints in wood that do not use nails. Joiners usually work in a workshop since the formation of various joints generally requires non-portable machinery. A carpenter normally works on site...
y, are the basis of timber frame building.
Timber framing is now a modern method of construction, Ideally suited to mass house building as well as public buildings. In conjunction with a number of natural insulations and timber cladding or modern lime render
Lime Render
Lime render is a lime-based cementitious mix applied to the external surfaces of traditionally-built stone buildings. It allows the building to 'breathe' - as lime is porous, it allows for the collection and evaporation of moisture...
s, it is possible to quickly construct a high performance, sustainable building, using completely natural products. The benefits are many—the building performs better over its lifespan, waste is reduced (much can be re-cycled, composted or used as fuel). Timber frame structures are frequently used in combination with other natural building techniques, such as cob, straw bale, or cordwood/masonry.
Related ideas and strategies
Other concepts, methods and strategies often (or sometimes) associated with natural building include: building "underground," earth shelteringEarth sheltering
Earth sheltering is the architectural practice of using earth against building walls for external thermal mass, to reduce heat loss, and to easily maintain a steady indoor air temperature...
, or berm
Berm
A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier separating two areas. Berm originates in the Middle Dutch and German berme and came into usage in English via French.- History :...
ing, "green
Green roof
A green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems...
" or "living" planted roofs, thatched roofs and cement-free earthen floor
Earthen floor
An earthen floor, also called an adobe floor, is a floor made of dirt, raw earth, or other unworked ground materials. It is usually constructed, in modern times, with a mixture of sand, finely chopped straw and clay, mixed to a thickened consistency and spread with a trowel on a sub-surface such...
s, rubble-trench
Rubble trench foundation
The rubble trench foundation, a construction approach popularized by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is a type of foundation that uses loose stone or rubble to minimize the use of concrete and improve drainage. It is considered more environmentally friendly than other types of foundation because...
, or gabion
Gabion
Gabions are cages, cylinders, or boxes filled with soil or sand that are used in civil engineering, road building, and military applications. For erosion control caged riprap is used. For dams or foundation construction, cylindrical metal structures are used...
foundations.
To increase sustainability, various approaches to lower energy consumption are used in conjunction with natural building: sun-shading or other passive cooling
Passive cooling
Passive cooling refers to technologies or design features used to cool buildings without power consumption, such as those technologies discussed in the Passive house project.-Passive cooling:...
techniques, passive solar heating, geo-exchange heating and cooling, "short-cycle" and "annualized" passive (and PV-assisted) solar space and water heating, hot water heat recycling
Hot water heat recycling
Water heat recycling is the use of a heat exchanger to recover energy and reuse heat from drain water from various activities such as dish-washing, clothes washing and especially showers...
, biologic air purification by indoor plants, passive or air-to-air/heat-recovery ventilation, solar or annualized cooling, insulated glazing and selective glazing films, night and cold-weather "movable" insulation, or on-site electric power generation by renewable energy
Renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...
in the form of photovoltaics
Photovoltaics
Photovoltaics is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic power generation employs solar panels composed of a number of solar cells containing a photovoltaic material...
(PV), wind generators, or micro-hydro (either with fully independent systems referred to as "off-grid" or with "grid-tied" systems feeding into the public electric network), low-voltage electric and avoidance of electro-magnetic and other possibly harmful forms of radiation.
Other green building strategies that improve conservation of resources include: rain-water catchment, storage
Rainwater tank
A rainwater tank is a water tank used to collect and store rain water runoff, typically from rooftops via rain gutters...
, and purification; waste-water separation; biological waste-water purification and grey-water reuse; composting toilets, on-site snow/rain-water run-off management, bioswales, permeable paving
Permeable paving
Permeable paving is a range of materials and techniques for paving roads, cycle-paths, parking lots and sidewalks that allow the movement of water and air around the paving material. Although some porous paving materials appear nearly indistinguishable from nonporous materials, their environmental...
, native or low-water-use ("xeriscape") landscapes, and accommodation of alternative-fuelled/powered and human-powered vehicles.
See also
- ChirpiciChirpiciChirpici is a Romanian term for adobe bricks. Chirpici is a traditional construction material made out of clay and straw, used especially on the steppes of southern Romania, in the Bărăgan Plain, but also in other lowlands of Oltenia, Moldavia and Dobruja....
- traditional home design from Eastern Europe. - EarthshipEarthshipAn earthship is a type of passive solar house made of natural and recycled materials. Designed and marketed by Earthship Biotecture of Taos, New Mexico, the homes are primarily constructed to work as autonomous buildings and are generally made of earth-filled tires, using thermal mass...
- FerrocementFerrocementThe term ferrocement is most commonly applied to a mixture of Portland cement and sand reinforced with layers of woven or expanded steel mesh and closely spaced small-diameter steel rods rebar. It can be used to form relatively thin, compound curved sheets to make hulls for boats, shell roofs,...
- Green buildingGreen buildingGreen building refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition...
- Recycling timber
- Renewable heatRenewable heatRenewable heat is an application of renewable energy and it refers to the renewable generation of heat, rather than electrical power ....
- Self-sufficient homes
- Wattle and daubWattle and daubWattle and daub is a composite building material used for making walls, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw...
External links
- Earth Buildings and Their Repair - describes the use of earth buildings in the UK.
- LanderLand's Natural Building - A Jewel Box of Art & Natural Building.