Earthship Design Principles:

1)Thermal/Solar Heating & Cooling

2)Solar & Wind Electricity

3)Contained Sewage Treatment

4)Building with Natural & Recycled Materials

5)Water Harvesting

6)Food Production

Some more little houses we like. Making a small house to live in using the cheapest materials is the best green house alternative for people with time and money constraints.

My first introduction to little houses happened many years ago. I saw a Japanese Tea House. The whole concept of living in small space, so common in Japan, was quite appealing to me.

Later on, as far apart as Amsterdam, Holland, Bangkok, Thailand, and Broklyn, New York, I saw floating homes.
The concept is quite appealing, but the costs can be quite hight.

Then we have the humble trailer/ RV / camper home
and it’s recent offspring, the tiny house on a trailer.

With all these examples, the idea that smaller is better and you can do it yourself started to blossom in my mind.

I also started becoming more and more aware of certain opressive regulatory forces in society.

For example-

The Smallest House in Great Britain

can be found on the Quay, in Conwy, Wales. It has its own entry in the Guinness Book of Records. This house is also known as the Quay House.

Its dimensions are 3.05 metres x 1.8 metres.

It has been lived in since the Sixteenth Century. It was even inhabited by a family at one point[citation needed]). It was lived in until 1900, when the owner was a 6ft 3 inch fisherman named Robert Jones. The rooms were too small for him to stand up in fully and he was eventually forced to move out when the council declared the house unfit for human habitation. The house is still owned by his descendants

litet huset 2

Martin Rauch Builds His Dream House (Rammed Earth, of Course)

A good looking home indeed.

We like the underground idea, as large mass equals good thermal properties.

We do prefer a straw bale or an earthship design to rammed earth because:

Earth buildings are costly in terms of labor. The silt and earthen mixture is compressed periodically in horizontal layers and compressed with air compression beaters and vibration rolls. In case of “House Rauch” 41% of the house’s volume is under earth, which results in some subterranean cave-like spaces. The building’s foundation is made of 60cm trass cement – the traditional roman cement, the ceilings are “Dippelbaumdecken” (beam ceilings) and the interior thermal insulation is made from rush mats, which is also a perfect underground for the finishing coat.

via <a href=”http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/03/martin-rauch-house.php”>treehugger</a>

On a side note, to add to our architects suck philosophy, the source for the story, anArchitecture, is an architectural blog.

Guess what is the top link at that said architectural blog? “a guide to architects fees” Do not trust architects. Do it yourself.

Try getting permits to build a green house in your area and see what nice people from the architectural and construciton lobby  you will meet.

Environmentally aware sustainable housing is not only better for you and the biosphere, it costs less and is cheaper to build, while providing better value.

An earthship is built with earth and garbage, like tires, cans and glass. straw bale houses are made of straw bales, returning the best insulation value for least money.

People are building both types of houses all over the world in different climate conditions and having great results.

The best sustainable house in the world- Simon Dale

Earthships in Sweden

straw bale in Sweden

two videos on straw bale in sweden

Other resources outside of Sweden

solar haven

Jim and Mindy Phypers set out to build their own self-sufficient home on four acres in the sonoran desert.

They have a wonderful article on errors to avoid when building a house – make sure to respect regulations and beware bitchy neighbors!

they have now moved but the webpage remains.

sample “proper ” straw bale house budget- what it cost to build in their case 80 thousand Us dollars

good notes on a rubble trench foundation, of course in Sweden there are lots of rocks and you can just build on stilts get support from the rock foundation. check out the blog too.

This is a story about freedom.  A family decides to build a simple cheap ecological house that will let them concentrate on living.

We will be making a documentary and keeping a blog to document our experience.

what is being done in Sweden with environmentally friendly homes?

Sweden being green conscious, there are several initiatives by government, groups and individuals to improve the conditions of life and sustainability.

Check back as we publish several notes on green living in Sweden.

Read part one with videos here