Tucson Textures
Sonoran Desert, Tucson, Arizona – DUST Architects Built Area: 3,640 sq ft (337m2) Year: 2012 Photography: Jeff Goldberg/Esto, Bill Timmerman Nature still provides the best building materials as this rammed earth home demonstrates. Extensive use of texturing throughout the home adds to the drama of the desert location while careful positioning has protected the environment in which […]
Sonnenschiff… a solar village to work, rest and play!
Australia gets more sunshine than any other country on Earth. It is, and always has been a pioneer in solar energy developments. Yet it is Germany, not Australia, that leads the world in solar energy production. Sun Ship (Sonnenschiff) and the integated Solar Village (Solarsiedlung) in the city of Frieburg is a leading example […]
The Great Wall of WA
North Western Australia – Luigi Rosselli Architects Design Architect:Â Luigi Rosselli Builder: Jaxon Construction Photography: Edward Birch Click on any image to start lightbox display. Use your Esc key to close the lightbox. Another interesting rammed earth home is Lake Chapala Rammed Earth Home…
Straw Bale House
Byron Bay, NSW, Australia – Rachel Bending Photography: John Downs Rachael Bending’s Bird Textiles was the first Australian company to be 100% climate-neutral.  She’s earned a swag of awards for her pioneering earth-friendly approach to her business. That same attitude is reflected in the home you see here. The owners wanted a totally sustainable home for themselves […]
The Hobbit House
Wales – Simon Dale What do you get when you cross a minimum budget with a maximum concern for the environment – a low impact woodland home. Using almost entirely recycled materials, or resources already on site, Simon Dale and Jasmine Saville built their hobbit home in only 4 months and on a $3000 budget […]
The Ryan Residence
King Scrub (near Brisbane) Australia  WD architects Cooran Queensland In the words of architect, Andrew Webb: The Ryan residence pushes the boundaries of sustainable design while being an inspiring, comfortable and innately functional place to for the family to live together and grow. The house is highly energy-efficient and employs a range of innovative sustainable materials, […]
Menlo Passive
San Mateo County Menlo Park, California – Clarum Homes Year built: 2011 Passive Home (PassivHaus) is a design and build exercise that delivers an extremely comfortable, healthy, economical and sustainable home. Passive homes offer numerous benefits over conventional building including up to a 90% reduction in energy consumption at very little additional cost,.And while some […]
The Fab Lab House
Catalonia, Spain – Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) Built area: Â Â 75 m2 (810 sq. ft.) Year built:Â Â Â 2010 Photography:Â Â Â AdriĂ Goula Designed and built as an entry in the 2010 Solar Decathlon Europe, this home definitely deserves a guernsey in our sustainable homes collection. Â The objective of the competition is […]
Crossway Passivhaus
Kent, England – Richard Hawkes Built area:Â 278 m2 (3,000 sq. ft.) Year built: 2009 With it’s 20 metre, arched, grass covered roof, newspaper, car tires and crushed bottles mixed into the lime mortar used to finish the interior and bricks kilned just four miles from the building site, this home was designed to embody the […]
Spain’s First Passive House
Llerida, Spain – Josep Bunyesc Built area: 210 m2 (2,260 sq. ft.) Year built: 2009 Photography: Josep Bunyesc Josep Bunyesc doesn’t simply believe in the passivhaus concept, he lives it. Â He built Spain’s first certified passive house in 2009 for his family and himself. The home’s orientation, insulation, solar panels, construction materials and overall design […]