10 AMAZING HOUSES MADE OF DIRT AND STRAW
The Three Little Pigs have nothing on these digs. Ancient technique and modern groove set
these structures apart from the little hillside boxes filling our neighborhoods. There are
no cookie-cutter house plans here. Just clean, green, natural buildings smoothed from dirt,
straw, clay, and loads of ingenuity. No Big Bad Wolf will blow these down.
1. Hollyhock house mimics Devon UK styles, on Cortes Island, British Columbia,
Canada
Gerry Thomasen
Cob, as this style of construction is known, has been used by crafty home-builders
as far back as the 11th century. Evidence of these ultra-stable, fire-resistant structures
has been found in North Africa, the Middle East, and, most commonly, Devon, Wales ,
and Cornwall in the United Kingdom . Earthen home-building gained resurgence in the
late 1990’s, in England and Ireland , and has become all the rage in Canada ’s
British Columbia , displayed in exhibitions and neighborhood streets alike.
2. Won’t have to worry about tracking dirt into this Baja
Mexico
lounge. It’s there on purpose.
Cobworks
A 2007 family home, measuring 2,150 ft
2
, fitted with solar power and sub-floor heating
ran a mere $210,000 CAD (112,000 GBP), making cob construction one of the
most economical means of home-building, in addition to being among the most ethical.
Impressive stats in these wild economic times, and positioning this rustic style of design
at the forefront of charitable efforts to house the poor.
3. Smooth and groovy, a micro-house on display at Stanley Park , British Columbia .
