Books
The Passive Solar House
Heavily illustrated, with color photos and easy-to-use formulas, passive solar is perfect for anyone considering a building project which maximizes energy efficiency. The author's clear, simple presentation of the basics combined with his technical authority make the material accessible to the owner/builder, professional contractor, or architectural student.
The Solar House
This text presents a relatively nontechnical description of passive solar heating and cooling principles that can be used in the construction of homes heated and cooled simply through the absorption or dissipation of sunlight. The author, who has designed a number of these homes, discusses region-specific design strategies, the integration of environmentally friendly back-up heat, the maintenance of indoor air quality, and step- by-step design processes.
Natural Building: Creating Communities Through Cooperation
Authored by our own Tim Rieth, this brilliant book combines the wisdom of a great reference tool with the wonder of an inspiration guidebook. Basics in foundations, framing, wall systems, and roofs are explored through the shared experiences of teachers, students, and seekers who came together one summer to build a folly and created a legacy. The value of natural building is told in four parallel stories. At its core is a primer on low-impact and very accessible building techniques, materials, and approaches.
Using Natural Finishes: A Step-by-Step Guide
Adam Weismann and Katy Bryce are at the forefront of a new generation of builders that are continuing and perpetuating vernacular practices and crafts, while innovating by bringing together natural methods, materials, and techniques from a range of traditions.
Art of Natural Building
This comprehensive introduction to the natural building field is for lay people, architects, and designers who wish to build beautiful, low-cost, and environmentally-sensible structures.
The Straw Bale House
Whether you build an entire house or something more modest-a home office or studio, a retreat cabin or guest cottage-plastered straw bale construction is an exceptionally durable and inexpensive option. What's more, it's fun, because the technique is easy to learn and easy to do yourself.
A Timeless Way of Building
The Timeless Way of Building is the introductory volume in the Center for Environmental Structure series. Christopher Alexander presents in it a new theory of architecture, building, and planning which has at its core that age-old process by which the people of a society have always pulled the order of their world from their own being.
The Cob Builders Handbook
A step by step, user friendly guide on how to make your own hand-sculpted earth home! 180 pages with lots of illustrations.
The Hand-Sculpted House
This practical and inspiring hands-on guide teaches anyone from a rank beginner to a conventional architect how to design and build a cozy and beautiful cob home.
Building with Cob
A great new practical guide to cob building by our compatriots in Cornwall, England---read this book!
Serious Straw Bale
Bergeron and Lacinski's is the first to look carefully at the specific design considerations critical to success with a straw bale building in more extreme climates-where seasonal changes in temperature, precipitation, and humidity create special stresses that builders must understand and address.