Alternative Construction: Contemporary Natural Building Methods

The complete guide to selecting and using natural materials for building Covering a broad range of options for natural building, Alternative Construction examines straw bale, light clay, cob, adobe, rammed earth and pisé, earthbag, earth–sheltered, bamboo, and hybrid systems for residential and low–rise commercial structures. Over thirty well–known experts on each building system—including Athena Swentzell Steen and Bill Steen (coauthors of The Straw Bale House), David Easton (author of The Rammed Earth House), and Joseph Kennedy and Michael Smith (editor and author of The Art of Natural Building)—have contributed core chapters that explore the history, development, environmental benefits, and engineering and building code requirements for each method. More than 200 visuals depict both construction processes and completed structures, while an extensive resource guide shows where to go for further information, training, and research. Editors Lynne Elizabeth and Cassandra Adams have provided, in the words of Environmental Building News, "a terrific overview of various methods for building with earth, straw, and bamboo . . . Alternative Construction is an enlightening, sometimes fascinating, combination of voices." Whether you′re a designer, builder, or owner, this book will help you to combine indigenous building materials with modern construction systems to create low–impact, high–quality buildings that meet the highest levels of comfort, health, and safety.

FOREWORD (Bob Berkebile, FAIA; Sim Van der Ryn) PREFACE. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. Part I. DESIGN PRINCIPLES. 1. Introduction. The Natural Building Movement  (Lynne Elizabeth). The Realities of Specifying Environmental Building Materials (Cassandra Adams). 2. A New Context for Building Codes and Regulation (David Eisenberg). 3. Natural Conditioning of Buildings (Ken Haggard, Polly Cooper, and Jennifer Rennick with assistance from Phil Niles). 4. Structural Properties of Alternative Building Materials (Bruce King, P.E.). PART II. SYSTEMS AND MATERIALS. 5. Adobe (Michael Moquin). 6. Cob (Michael Smith). 7. Rammed Earth (David Easton). 8. Modular Contained Earth Earthbag (Joseph Kennedy and Paulina Wojciechowska with special acknowledgment of the work of Nader Khalili). Earth–Rammed Tires (Michael Reynolds). 9. Light Clay (Robert Laporte and Frank Andresen with special acknowledgment of the work of Franz Volhard). 10. Straw–Bale (Kelly Lerner, Bob Theis, and Dan Smith). 11. Bamboo (Darrel DeBoer and Karl Bareis). 12. Earthen Finishes Earth Plasters (Carole Crews). Earth Floors (Bill and Athena Steen). Part III. APPLICATIONS. 13. Integrated Systems with Rammed Earth Charles Sturt University, Thurgoona Campus, New South Wales, Australia (Marci Webster–Mannison)). 14. Straw, Clay, and Carrizo Obregon Project, Northern Mexico (Bill and Athena Steen). 15. Light–Clay House Additions School/Residence in Wisconsin (Lou Host–Jablonski, AIA). 16. Variations on Earth bag The Honey House—Moab, Utah (Kaki Hunter and Doni Kiffmeyer) Residences in Arizona and Wisconsin (Dominic Howes). Sandbag House, Rum Cay Island, Bahamas (Steve Kemble and Carol Escott). 17. The Value of Indigenous Ways Habitat for Humanity International (C. Wayne Nelson). 18. Building Technology Transfer Raising Straw–Bale Housing for Farm workers in California (Kelly Lerner, Dan Smith, and Bob Theis). Introduction of Straw–Bale Construction to Mongolia and China (Kelly Lerner). Epilogue. Finding the Soul of Natural Building (Tom Bender). Appendix A: Recommended References. Appendix B: Alternative Construction Resource Centers. ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS. INDEX.

LYNNE ELIZABETH is a consultant and author on sustainable community development and ecological design. She currently directs New Village Press, a publishing project of ADPSR, and resides in Temescal Commons, a solar–powered cohousing community in Oakland, California. CASSANDRA ADAMS is an architect and consultant in construction management and ecological design. She has taught architecture, construction, and environmental courses at the University of Washington and the University of California–Berkeley.