Natural Homes of the USA.

Of any country in the world the USA probably has the most diverse collection of natural building styles. From the cob homes of Oregon to the earthbag homes of California, here is a selection across nine states.
 

This is the beautiful Straw Bale Studio in Oxford, MI, USA where you can learn natural building skills and sustainable living principles. The straw bale home has a thatched roof, earthen plasters with natural paints and uses solar electricity. The home was built by Deanne Bednar. You can find the studio on the Natural Homes Map

This is one of the houses in Hesperia, CA, USA, the ultimate expression of Nader Khalili’s earthbag architecture. It’s a community that demonstrates the earthbag methods he popularised. The houses there are domes of various sizes and shapes. His work is continued by people like Paulina Wojciechowska and Kelly Hart.

This straw bale music room, dripping in greenery and surrounded by flowers, is in Bethlehem, PA, USA. It's by Sigi Koko. It has a rubble trench foundation with an earthen floor and the straw bale walls are plastered inside with clay and outside with lime. Other bits and pieces were salvaged; all looking good under its living roof. Read about living roofs on Sigi's website and see more of her work on her facebook page: Build Naturally

This straw bale garden room in East Meredith, NY, USA was built by Sita Sanders. Sita was straw bale builder Clark Sanders' partner. This building so attractive because of its connection to the earth using the climbing plants and the sheltering roof.

Clark has built many straw bale homes in the USA but he also works in stone. This is his stone home in East Meredith which he began building it when he was 19 years old with stones from tumble-down walls.

This is Mary Steigerwald’s straw bale vault at Edge Habitat Sanctuary in the heart of Sangre de Cristos, NM, USA. It was built in 2007 when friends. With knowledge of basic straw bale building techniques and an understanding of the physics of arches they set to work on the tiny 12ftx12ft "bedroom in the wilderness".

This is Bill Coperthwaite’s home, a three storey wooden yurt with its little outhouse in the foreground. Bill replaced the collapsible framework of the traditional yurt with solid tapered boards. Here's a video tour William's.
 

These are some of the beautiful tiny cob homes in Coquille, OR, USA, built at Cob Cottage by the many people who go there to learn how to build using natural materials. These little homes cost very little to build. Ianto and Linda, the founders of Cob Cottage, talk about their work in this video where you will find out just how cheap these natural homes can be.
 

This is Gary Zuker's 900sq.ft (84m2) cob home in Austin, Texas, USA. In 1990, at a time when few cob homes were being built, Gary researched European 15th century cob homes at his local university. After working with other cobbers Gary realised he had all the tools he needed to build his home, courage, creativity, ingenuity and himself. Three years later his home was complete. Read his story and find his home on the Natural Homes map.

Garry used the architectural book 'A Pattern Language' to help design his home and even discovered a few of his own patterns while working on the house.

This is the tiny cob cottage at Pickards Mountain Eco-Institute in Chapel Hill, NC, USA. It was built by Greg Allen of Cob and On. Here's a video of the cottage while it was being plastered with clay.
 

You can see more pictures of the cottage on Greg Allen's facebook profile