Make My Next House Out of Super-Mud Adobe
November 11, 2011 
Irwin Weiner ASID - It's vital to think more in terms of using sustainable building materials when we're renovating or building homes. It's incredible to me that more building materials aren't locally sourced, avoiding a large shipping carbon footprint. Egyptian master architect Hassan Fathy taught the world that locally-sourced mud can make soaring, elegant, environmentally sensitive homes and villages. And in that same vein, we have to honor the Native Americans and their adobe structures.
Sandbags used to build super adobe homes.
The folks at Post Modern Times built a super adobe home using few tree-based products and locally-sourced earth and related materials in Brazil. It took a few people a short period of time to make something that I'd like to do on a larger family scale. The bottom photo shows the building process, using sandbags, with the finished product shown in the top photo. Watch today's featured video and see this fascinating building process in action.
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Reader Comments (1)
Very nice article I must say, but as today is Hassan Fathy Birthday, a noted Egyptian architect who pioneered appropriate technology for building in Egypt. Fathy was recognized with the Aga Khan Chairman's Award for Architecture in 1980. Architectural Model Making in Dubai pays his tribute to Hassan Fathy.