The
'Natural' Tiny House
Top 10 |
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No.
1
Glass bottles, collected from a dump, were included in the cob walls
of this tiny house in Romania. The large south facing window was a
gift from friends who had thermopane windows installed. The two smaller
windows facing east and west are actually car windshields. The walls
are finished with coloured clay, which gives a very beautiful effect.
The house can be seen on the natural homes map here.
This is the owner's
web site where you can read about green architecture and see a
lovely collection
of cob seats and other tiny houses by Casa Verde. Why not go on
a cob
building course. |
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No.
2 This
tiny cob house near Oxford, England, has been built almost exclusively
from materials from the surrounding farm. The cob mud came from the
site and the long straw for the thatch came from a few fields away.
The poplar beams we planted eight years ago and the reclaimed floorboards
and windows were donated by veg box scheme customers. Water comes
from an old well and newly created spring. Apart from some additional
straw and thatching pins it cost nothing to build, using no power
tools. It's owner and builder, Michael Buck, says it's a lovely house
to stay in and is often used by seasonal workers on the form. The
house can be seen on the natural homes map here. |
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No.
3 This
is an earthbag hobbit house built by Earth Hands and Houses. It featured
in the UK's Permaculture Magazine No.44 Summer 2005. A good web site
to learn about earthbag building is Kelly Hart's Earthbag
Blog. This Earthbag house is a small retreat with a fireplace
and enough space for two. It is wonderfully cool in the hot Polish
summers. It was built by volunteers (including one Polish giant) in
a leisurely 3 months but it must be said, earthbag building is hard
work so having a friendly Polish giant along to help is a good idea.
It cost 2,000 GBP. The house can be seen on the natural homes map
here
and on Earth
Hands and Houses web site. Try an earthbag
building course. |
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No.
4 This
house has got to be one of the most recognised natural homes in the
World of Natural building. The story goes... "Take one baby,
a toddler and a building site. Mix well with a generous helping of
mud, combine with 6 weeks of solid Welsh rain whilst living under
canvas. Do this in candle light without a bathroom or electricity
for three months. Chuck in living with your father for good measure.
Top with an assortment of large slugs. The result a hand crafted home
of beauty, warmth and health for about 3,000 GBP". The house
can be seen on the natural homes map here.
You can read more about this wonderful house at simondale.net
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No.
5 is
a 36m2 straw bale house built in Estonia. It's partly Nebraskan in
style with something from light weight frame and something from traditional
post and beam construction methods and a few compromises thrown in
for good luck. For every foundation post there is also a timber post
to carry the load of the roof. There's lots of advice and pictures
to see on the web site at savikodu.pri.ee.
The house can be seen on the natural homes map here. |
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No.
6 This
house was built by Andre de Bouter of lamaisonenpaille.com.
The house has a keetu roof, that's palm leaves on a wooden structure,
a 16m2 loft to create extra living space, and a 8m2 balcony so the
occupants can sleep under the stars during the hot summer months.
No water or electricity, but candle light and a solar lamp. You can
find the house on the natural homes map in India here
and there are lots more pictures of the house and it's construction
on the Dutch straw bale web site strobouw.nl |
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No.
7 This
is one
of the many beautiful houses at Cae
Mabon. It's a celtic roundhouse built by Eric
Maddern, a story teller and song writer, in Wales. It's the second
version of the house, reconstructed in 2002 after the original was
lost to a fire. It stands beside a small barn built by Dafydd Hughes.
The house can be seen on the natural
homes map where, if you use the satellite view, you can see the
round thatched roof. |
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No.
8 We
may never have discovered this house if it weren't for 'Big Brother'.
This is the famous house built by Tony Wrench and for many years stood
invisible in the Welsh hills. It's commonly referred to as 'That Round
House'. It is an ecohome of wood frame, cobwood (or cordwood to the
US and Canadians) and recycled window walls, straw-insulated turf
roof; with solar power and wind turbine for electricity, compost toilet
and reed beds for grey water. The house can't be seen on the natural
homes map because it's too well hidden but take a look anyway.
Tony's web site is thatroundhouse.info.
Tony has written a wonderful
book well worth the read. Try a cordwood
building workshop. |
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No.
9 Kostas
Kontomanos from cob.gr
has built this wonderful small cob house in Greece on the isle of
Lesvos. It was built during a ten day cob workshop on the island in
2009. All the materials used were collected within 200 meters of the
building. The municipality which hosted project will use the building
as a clay museum and environmental education centre. This really tiny
house is here on the natural
homes map. There are lots more pictures and other project on Kostas'
web site This tiny house is the 3rd set of pictures on this
page. |
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No.
10 This
isn't really a house but a straw bale garden room built for Which
Magazine's Climate Garden just outside London. It's an African style
design with a Serpentine, or crinkle-crankle, wall beside it for growing
fruit. It was built by volunteers with no previous straw bale building
experience. The project was run by Chris 'Chug' Tugby. The roof is
a traditional English thatch. The walls are designed and pargeted
by Inna Savitskaya of greenhamlet.com.
The house can be seen on the natural homes map here
and on chug's web site strawbale-building.co.uk |
