Architecture Links

Alternative Architecture

Why and How to Design and Build your Own Home

• Christopher Day An architect/builder from Wales with very interesting ideas. He has a book on volunteer, community and self building called Building with Heart that is available from his website. This next book is also by him:
  

  Places of the Soul: Architecture and Environmental Design as a Healing Art Buy it from Amazon.com

  When I borrowed this book from the library, their copy had a picture of a curved building with grass growing on it's roof that I immediately liked. I wanted to put that picture on this page but this version has an interior on it's cover. Too bad. However, I like the interior, too. Christopher Day speaks of designing buildings to fit in with their environmental setting, of building with human and social needs in mind, of using curves and mystery, of being aware of the healing qualities of shapes, sounds, light, materials. It was an extremely interesting book.

• Christopher Alexander has some very interesting concepts, too. His books are beautifully written, easy to read and understand. I was fascinated by them.
  

  	These two books go together. The Timeless Way of Building explains the theory of using patterns as a building language and gives instructions for doing so, while A Pattern Language lists the pattern details.
  A Timeless Way of Building Buy it from Amazon.com		Buy it from Amazon.com

• a pattern language website is a summary of the book A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein, with Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King and Shlomo Angel
  
• PatternLanguage.Com a site in progress - to explain and communicate the ideas of the book
  
  

• Clare Cooper Marcus wrote this wonderful book: House as a Mirror of Self: exploring the deeper meaning of home. She interviewed people over a period of 20 years using a role-playing approach (borrowed from Gestalt therapy) and the resulting book is a fascinating, highly readable, "soul-full" book that gave me many insights into my own relationship with homes throughout my life and helped me realize what I want in my dream home.

  House as a Mirror of Self Buy it from Amazon.com

• This book gives 47 grand designs for 47 tiny houses. It's fascinating. The smallest house Lester Walker shows is a School-Bus shelter and is just 5.5 square feet! There are two houses with 324 square feet, the largest in this book. To me, the most intriguing house is an inside-out house. The structure is just big enough for a double bed and except for sleeping, all activities take place outside. So the living and dining room are as big as the whole outdoors. The couple who used it while they built their dream home nearby, defined a space by hanging negative windows - cloth, pictures and other objects - on the trees. They said that since they could see through their walls, they didn't need to see through their windows.

  a little house of my own

Alternative Building Materials and Methods

Cob

• Cob Cottage Company gives courses on building with cob in the States and Canada. They have good FAQ's and lots of great pictures. You can also buy "how to" books from them.
• Cob and Natural Building Links
• An article on cob. from Mother Earth News.
• Another definition.
• Lots of pictures of cob houses, new and old (one is 450 years old) from around the world. They're beautiful.

Strawbale

• Surfin' Strawbale A huge list of sites that have to do with strawbale.
• Strawbale Studio A charming studio built by 3 women in Michigan. The site includes pictures and a diary on how they built it. I found the thatch roof information especially interesting. They also have an earthen floor.
• 50 Strawbale House Plans A very generous site filled with information and charming plans. My favourites are Palapa (350 sq ft), Coil (630 sq ft), and Eye (670 sq ft). The plans go up to 1850 sq ft.
• Natural Building Resources Sells books.
• The Last Straw A print journal of straw-bale construction and natural building. Their website, however, contains a lot of very useful information, some of which is listed below.
• Economics of Alternative Construction It's not cheaper, according to this site.
• Should I Build A Strawbale House? Good questions to ask yourself.
• A Threat to Strawbale Housing Moisture and rot in strawbale homes (Ontario study).
• BaleRaisers Some information and pictures but this is a company that sells plans for strawbale houses.

Other

• Biogenic Ecodesic Living Lighthouse People find interesting ways to live their dreams - this couple built a B.E.L.L. And they have interesting pages on sprouts (with recipes for eating "live food") and how to do laundry without a washing machine.
• Enertia¨ Building System Use of wood and geothermal energy. You can buy plans from them.
• Sustainable Building Sourcebook from City of Austin's Green Building Program. Look in the table of contents for lots of topics.
• The House That Max Built The Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, outside Austin, Texas, is run by Pliny Fisk III and his wife, codirector Gail Vittori. They "concoct environmentally sound and sustainable building technologies." I'm not sure that all their materials produce healthy off-gases, but they sure have interesting ideas.
• Green Building Information Centre Canadian - A bit disappointing. Most of the links seem to be to commercial sites that don't give out much free information.
• California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture This very interesting site shows the work of Nader Khalili who builds arches, vaults, and domes with sandbags and teaches children how even they can build simple shelters. He also builds ceramic structures, avoids using wood, and is developing structures that could be used on the moon and Mars. He has two books: Ceramic Houses and Earth Architecture and Racing Alone.
• Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development Under the Articles/Publications section there are several manuals on various topics of sustainable building some of which can be downloaded for free.
• Mother Earth News has some articles on building alternatively.
• The Earth Building Foundation Adobe and rammed earth building - good FAQs give an excellent introduction to building with adobe.
• EarthShip Building with discarded tires and aluminum cans. You can see pictures of some earthships.
• Green Building Concepts
• Sustainable Architecture Building & Culture Lots of links
• Permaculture The Earth Lots of links.

Architecture Sites

• Isfahan in Iran This site is very interesting with lots of historical comentary, great photographs of architecture and other artwork.
• Photos of Buildings Around the World Also info on each one.
• Tour of architecture of Rome With commentary.
• Indian Architecture Beautiful photos but no commentary.
• UNESCO's World Heritage List Not all on the list are architectural but many are. Links are provided for some of them.

Architects

• Women Architects Photos of their work.
• Tsui Design & Research Inc. Eugene Tsui's ideas of evolutionary architecture blow my mind - they are so innovative and beautiful.

  Wow!

• Self-Sufficient Residence Here is one of Eugene Tsui's homes. I can really get excited about something like this.
• "Prosperity Tower" See what you think of Eugene Tsui's "Prosperity Tower" proposal for downtown Taipei, Taiwan. Talk about thinking creatively!

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Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada
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