Title: Creating a Life Together, Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities
By: Diana Leafe Christian, January 2003

Creating a Life Together is the only resource available that provides step-by-step practical information distilled from numerous firsthand sources on how to establish an intentional community. It deals in depth with structural, interpersonal and leadership issues, decision-making methods, vision statements, and the development of a legal structure, as well as profiling well-established model communities. This exhaustive guide includes excellent sample documents among its wealth of resources.

Title: Guastavino Vaulting: The Art of Structural Tile
By: John Ochsendorf, September 2010

Since the time of ancient Rome, architects, engineers, and builders have struggled with the problem of building domed ceilings over large spaces. No one was more skilled at this than the Rafael Guastavino family, a father and son team from Span who oversaw the construction of thousands of spectacular thin-tile vaults across the United States between the 1880s and the 1950s.

Title: Clay Culture: Plasters, Paints and Preservation
By: Carole Crews, June 2010

Clay Culture offers thirty years worth of experience and information about building, repairing, and finishing walls with abundant, natural clay. During these shifting times, it's crucial to understand ways of providing shelter without a bank loan. It is only recently that we have forgotten how to take good care of ourselves without shopping. Models are a way to begin, and a great way to test local clay.

Title: Bamboo Architecture: In Competition and Exhibition
By: David Greenberg and Robert Henrikson, May 2011

 

Fascinating bamboo buildings and architectural designs from around the world from the International Bamboo Building Design Competition, the 2010 Shanghai World Expo and several other competitions and exhibitions. Architects and designers from 64 countries submitted 250 designs in 12 building categories such as family houses, urban buildings, emergency shelters, commercial and public buildings, pavilions, and even tree houses. The buildings and designs use bamboo and other natural building materials, and range from modest to majestic, commercial to humanitarian, and practical to fanciful.

Title: The Carbon-free Home: 36 Remodeling Projects to Help Kick the Fossil-fuel Habit
By: Stephen Hren and Rebekah Hren, September 2008

Stephen and Rebekah live in Durham, North Carolina, USA. Rebekah is a licensed electrician, designing and installing photovoltaic and solar hot water systems. Stephen teaches natural-building classes and workshops at the local community college. Their book shows first how to reduce energy consumption, then to retrofit existing homes to obtain all heating, cooling, cooking, refrigeration, hot water, and electricity from renewable sources.

Title: HEMP LIME CONSTRUCTION: A guide to building with hemp lime composites
By: Rachel Bevan and Tom Woolley on CAT, September 2008

from the publisher

Comprehensive guidance on using this novel material for housing and low-rise buildings is given for the first time in this book, which is full of practical information on materials, design and construction. It is fully illustrated and includes case studies and design details, and explains how the use of hemp-based material can capture and store carbon dioxide in the fabric of buildings.

Title: Natural Building: A Guide to Materials and Techniques
By: Tom Woolley on CAT, August 2006

Describes the many materials and methods that have been used by the pioneers of natural building; discusses the reasons why various materials have been chosen and frankly explains their advantages and disadvantages; provides a detailed consideration of all the main forms of natural construction, including building with earth, timber and straw bales; and covers green and natural roofs, lime and masonry, and the use of hemp, as well as natural insulation materials, paints and finishes.

Title: Natural Remodelling for the Not-so-green House
By: Carol Venolia, Faculty Director of EcoDwelling program at New College of California
and Kelly Lerner of One World Design, December 2006

Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House will show you how to start with the home you have and transform it into an eco-paradise—on any budget. Based on working with the gifts of your site and climate, this unique guide will empower you to go beyond green window-dressing to restore your connections with the natural world.

Title: The Art of Natural Building: Design, Construction, Resources
By: Joseph H. Kennedy et al, November 2001

A complete and user-friendly introduction to natural building for non-professionals, architects and designers. From straw bale and cob to recycled concrete and salvaged materials, this anthology of articles from leaders in the field focuses on both the practical and the aesthetic concerns of ecological building designs and techniques. Above all, this empowering guide demonstrates that anyone can design and build a home from natural materials.

Title: Building a Low Impact Roundhouse (Simple Living)
By: Tony Wrench of That Round House, January 2001

Tony and Jane built their house out of logs and earth with a turf roof on a community in Wales, this is the story of building the house. It shows this house looks nothing like the suburban box and nothing like conventional "owner-built" houses. Low-impact, low-cost, liveable, and using simple techniques.

Title: Little House on a Small Planet
By: Shay Salomon, Frances Moore Lappe of Small House Society, September 2006

The authors travelled, collecting floor plans, stories, and photographs. They worked on this project for about 7 years, and were supported in part by a grant from the Graham Foundation for the Fine Arts. Little House on a Small Planet is a self-help, home-improvement guide for people who want to increase their happiness by living in much less space.

Title: Econest: Creating Sustainable Sanctuaries of Clay, Straw, and Timber
By: Paula Baker-Laporte, Robert Laporte of Eco Nest, September 2005

Like the bird, humans desire shelter that is cosy and nurturing, that satisfies the soul, mind, and body. This is the econest.

Title: Living Homes
By: Thomas J. Elpel of Elpel Web Portal, May 2001

Living Homes takes you through the planning process to design an energy and resource efficient home that won't break the bank. Author Thomas J. Elpel guides you through the nuts and bolts of construction for slipform stone masonry, tilt-up stone walls, log home construction, building with strawbales, making your own "terra tile" floors, windows & doors, solar water systems, masonry heaters, framing, plumbing, greywater, septic systems, swamp filters, painting and more!

Title: Green Building Bible
Editor: Keith Hall (editor) of Green Building magazine, August 2008

Solar power, ecological heating options, energy conservation, insulation, choosing eco-building products, healthy homes and how to avoid sick building syndrome, green roofing, painting and decoration, buying an eco-home, grants, waste management and water saving, sustainable garden design and management. There are also reviews on current trends and direction of the green building movement in the UK with hundreds of contacts and further reading suggestions.

Title: Green Building Bible: In Depth Technical Information and Data
Editor: Richard Nicholls and Keith Hall (editor) of Green Building magazine, June 2008

Subjects covered in technical detail include: designing energy efficient buildings; calculating thermal insulation; heating an cooling of buildings; renewable energies; solar heating; day lighting; air tightness and sealing of buildings. The book discusses at length the technical aspects of the best systems and techniques to achieve real green and energy efficient buildings.

Title: Designing Your Natural Home: A Practical Guide
By: David Pearson, September 2005

Contains ten examples of people who have built their own homes of various sizes, materials, budgets and styles including timber, cob, rammed earth, tyres, stone, straw bale and reclaimed and salvaged materials. The book is full of inspiring photographs.

Title: A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction
By Christopher Alexander, August 1978

Used by Ted Owens of Building With Awareness to design his home. See his book here

This book enables any person to design a house by using "patterns" to solve design problems. These patterns simply state the concept, such as where to place windows, and then explain the resolution in a few paragraphs.

Title: Building with Hemp
By: Steve Allin of Hemp Building, October 2005

This book showcases the recent development of using hemp products in an ecologically sustainable system. The information which can be used by architects, builders, developers, interior designers and 'do it yourself' enthusiasts, is presented in plain language and includes over 300 colour photographs, illustrations and diagrams. Based on over eight years research and experiment by the author and the experience of those at the forefront of hemp building development in France.

Title: Book of Masonry Stoves
By: David Lyle, April 1998

Masonry stoves offer good solutions to many of the problems associated with wood burning. They provide clean combustion at a high temperature, good efficiency, a high degree of safety, and little or no pollution. The book includes plans for building one style of masonry stove, with enough cut-away drawings of other stoves to give the reader many more ideas.

Title: 50 Dollars and Up Underground House Book
By: Mike Oehler of Underground Housing, April 1982

Explains the whole process of designing and building an underground home, first from basic design right through to a built-in greenhouse. Mike explains why they can be warm in the winter and cool in the summer and how the architectural possibilities are enormous.