Category: Environmental
The earth below your feet
Posted by Rupert on January 24, 2009
Cal Earth Shelters look like the business. All you need is some earth. Sandy wasteland earth will do. And some sacks. You pile them up in a concentric circle, leaving spaces for doors and windows as you go, and boom – you have a home. Well, a shelter.
Originally they were designed by architect and author, Nader Khalili, of Iranian descent I think, but California-based for decades. Their website has some amazing images which say it all.
And these folks have posted a film of throwing them up in Nepal; see it here.
Paulo, who sent this link, has suggested using lime instead of cement. For sure. If you plaster the outside in sand and cement it will compromise the breathability of the indoor space, causing damp and mold.
So all we need is a couple of bundles of these sacks. And some earth. Some windows and doors I suppose are needed. We could build these onto a terrace somewhere. (Monica, can we?)
By Magnus Wolfe Murray, January 2009
4 Responses to “The earth below your feet”
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January 24th, 2009 at 11:25
Inspiring concept. For millenia people would build their homes from what was around them and it makes sense to go back to this. I heard about these California-desert-earth-sack houses years ago but never thought I’d be able to see one…
January 30th, 2009 at 20:27
How do the sacks hold themselves up?
January 30th, 2009 at 20:42
I can answer this one: the sacks are piled up in a circle and you stack them leaning slightly in. As they lean in they support each other, a bit like a keystone in an old stone bridge. They leave spaces for doors and windows and then cover the walls with render and they seem amazing (at least in the pics)
February 11th, 2009 at 11:15
They look lovely on the website I must admit – but only the ones that are rendered and finished, the bare sack walls may make you feel like you’re living inside the coils of a snake.
So far we’ve got houses of straw, sticks, sand, cloth – I just hope to have somewhere to stay (main house, possibly?) by the end of the year…