Natural Building, something from each country of the world

 
 

 

 

This is a growing collection of natural homes from all over the world, one home representing each country. Click on any of the pictures below to visit the page, read more about the house, follow links to builder's or owner's websites and, if you are a Pinterest user, add the picture to your collections in Pinterest. When you visit the page you may also see some of the following icons

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If you would like to learn how to build homes like these we have a list of Natural Building Workshops. If you would like to read in more detail about some of the natural homes and natural builders then we have a growing collection of articles about Natural Building.

 
           
Roundwood and straw bale house, England

Roundwood  house, England

This is Ben Law's roundwood and straw bale house and beautiful garden in Prickly Nut Wood near Lodsworth, West Sussex, UK.

 
Borgund stave church, Norway

Stave church, Norway

This is one of Norway's stave churches. Stave churches are typically some 8m (26ft) tall made entirely from wood without a single nail.

 
A strawbale home tour, Australia

Straw Bale house, Australia

This is a video tour of Susan and John Glassford's home in Australia.

 
           
Oak frammed house, France

Thatched Oak Frame, France

It was originally built in the nearby town of Selles, 12Km away, in 1420 by English carpenters during the Hundred Years War.

 
Straw bale off-grid house, Canada

Straw bale house, Canada

Chris built the straw bale house in 2004 using earthen plasters and all local materials. It's an off-grid home without a straight wall in the house.

 
Natural materials in the bathroom

Natural Bathroom, Czech

Max has used natural clay, roundwood, stone and mosaics to bring a stunning mixture of textures, patterns, colour, warmth and light into the room.

 
           
The cave homes of Matmata, Tunisia

Cave homes, Tunisia

The homes are grouped around a central courtyard and connected to other courtyards with more rooms forming an underground maze.

 
Italy's first Straw Bale Home

Straw bale house, Italy

This was the first straw bale house built in Italy. It's a timber frame infill with clay plasters on the inside and lime plaster on the exterior and earthen floors.

 
Interior view of an Iclandic 18th century fishing station

Stone and turf, Iceland

This is one of Iceland's 18th century fishing stations.

 
           
A Sami Turf Hut, Sweden

Sami turf house, Sweden

This is a traditional summer turf home for the Sami people of the northern Scandinavian countries.

 
A straw bale, cob and earthbag cottage in Finland

Cob & straw house, Finland

The roof of this tiny cottage in Finland is made from a ring of roundwood timbers interlocking and supporting one another.

 
The adobe and stone Igherm of Morocco

Adobe Igherm, Morocco

This one, some 400 years old, had fallen in to disrepair like many others in the region.

 
           
Nenet Choom, Russia.

Nenet Choom, Russia

The choom, home to the nomadic Nenet, uses reindeer hides wrapped around wooden poles.

 
Cob and adobe school, Argentina

Cob school, Argentina

A cob waldorf school in Lago Puelo, Argentina.

 
Thatched Blackhouse in Scotland

Blackhouses, Scotland

These are the stone blackhouses of Gearrannan on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland. Originally built to share with farm animals.

 
           
Straw bale house, Ireland

Straw bale house, Ireland

This is The Spiral House in County Mayo, Ireland. It was built in 2003 by Barbara Jones.

 
Straw bale house, Denmark

Straw bale house, Denmark

Poula-Line built her straw bale house in Fri & Fro (Free and Happy) ecoVillage in Egebjerg, Denmark.

 
Clay granaries, Mali

Dogon clay granaries, Mali

These are Dogon thatched clay granaries (store rooms) in Songho, Mali.

 
           
Bib bale hotel, Switzerland

Straw Bale, Switzerland

Lisa and Louis took 250 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere when they built their straw bale guesthouse.

 
Bamboo roundhouse, Ethiopia

Roundhouse, Ethiopia

This is a traditional split bamboo plaited roundhouse by the Sidama people of Ethiopia.

 
Straw bale house, Poland

Straw bale house, Poland

This is a straw bale home built by natural building architect Paulina. The cosy cottage is near Warsaw in Poland.

 
           
Obos of the Musgum, Cameroon

Clay obos, Cameroon

These are clay catenary domes, called obos, of the Musgum people in the Cameroon. They provide efficient cooling in the baking heat.

 
Cob house, Romania

Cob house, Romania

This is one of the cob homes build by architect and natural builder Ileana Mavrodin of Casa Verde in Banat, Romania.

 
Arsh of the Toda, India

Arsh of the Toda, India

In the Nilgiri hills of Taml Nadu, India live the Toda people in rolling meadows and shola forests.

 
           
Stone, clay and wood chaitya, Tibet

Clay Chaitya, Tibet

The shape of the Stupa, for which there are 8 designs, represents the seated figure of Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha).

 
Straw bale house, Wales

Straw bale house, Wales

This is Simon Dale's new home in Lammas ecoVillage. It cost about $6,000 to build, maybe a bit less.

 
Thatched Straw Bale Studio in Oxford, MI, USA.

Straw bale house, USA

The straw bale home has a phragmite reed thatched roof, earthen plasters with natural paints and uses solar electricity.

 
           
Turf roofed farmhouse, Faroe Islands

Farmhouse, Faroe Islands

900 years old and still lived in to this day. It was used as the bishop's residence back to the 12th century.

 
Cave homes, Turkey

Cave homes, Turkey

Ortahisar is one of the many villages that occupy this labyrinth of caves where thick walls keep the homes cool in the 40C summers.

 
The caves of Guyaju, China

Cave homes, China

The homes, some with stylish pillars of stone, are arranged in two village clusters supplied with fresh water from a natural spring.

 
           
Cob Oven, Croatia

Cob oven, Croatia

A double chamber cob oven gives a cleaner burn than a standard cob oven.

 
Gurunsi House, Burkina Faso

Earthen homes, Burkina Faso

The men build the house and the women decorate the facades. All figures have a symbolic meaning.

 
The Gibbon Experience, Laos

Jungle Treehouse, Laos

Local people built treehouses and a network of zip lines through the canopy of Bokeo Nature Reserve to provide accommodation in the treetops to study the wildlife.

 
           
The Basotho Hut

Basotho homes in Lesotho, South Africa

The Basotho hut is slowly, but surely, being nudged out of the Lesotho landscape in South Africa by modern construction.

 
Cradle to Cradle

Willow nests, Netherlands

The hamlet of willow sculptures is in Venlo, Netherlands where everything in has a purpose linked with sustainable living.

 
Rocket Mass Heater, Estonia

Rocket Mass Heater, Estonia

Rocket stoves have very efficient combustion, where the furnace temperature ranges from about 1000C up to 1100C.

 
           
Jaime Filipe, Portuguese Land Artist

The drystone arch, Portugal

This arch is one of a bewildering collection of zen like balancing acts.

 
Bamboo and rice straw home, Iran

Bamboo and Rice, Iran

The shape of the shelter has good resistance to horizontal forces such as wind or even earthquakes.

 

 
Natural Living in Bhutan

Rammed Earth, Bhutan

A typical Bhutanese house is a three storey rammed earth structure with space for livestock on the ground floor.

 
           
Treehouse, Japan

Treehouse, Japan

Takashi Kobayashi is a treehouse builder who lives in Kamakura, Japan. He built this treehouse using driftwood gathered on the island of Hokkaido.

 
Tiny Home, France

Tiny House, France

Benji used two layers of old pullovers soaked in a milky solution of lime over a lattice of woven branches.