Natural Building Photo Gallery


Our sauna employs cordwood, light straw clay, cob, earthen plaster and a living roof
1. Natural Building Sauna
A stone hearth holds a barrel stove that heats the sauna and produces hot water
2. Sauna Hearth
Many hands make light work
3. Timber Frame
This timber frame house is infilled with slipstraw, a tamped straw-clay mix, plastered and painted with natural pigments
4. Timber Frame with Slipstraw 1
5. Timber Frame with Slipstraw 2
5. Timber Frame with Slipstraw 2
6. Applying Earthen Plaster
6. Applying Earthen Plaster
7. Mixing Plaster 1
7. Mixing Plaster 1
8. Mixing Plaster 2
8. Mixing Plaster 2
9. Mixing Plaster, Barefoot 2
9. Mixing Plaster, Barefoot 2
Arch
Arch
Clay is a key ingredient in natural building, here it's added to plaster
Clay Slip
Cob Bench
Cob Bench
Cob packed around a flu provides thermal mass
Cob Chimney
Cob has been used as a natural building material for centuries in Britain
Cob Cottage
Cob Hearth
Cob Hearth
Dry Stacked Stone, Ireland
Dry Stacked Stone, Ireland
First coat over slipstraw
Earth Plaster
Earthen Floor with Tiles
Earthen Floor with Tiles
Darien peels poles for our cabana
Fir Poles for Natural Building
Garden Kiosk with Living Roof
Garden Kiosk with Living Roof
Garden Shed
Garden Shed
Round poles are an excellent natural building material, six times as strong as milled wood the same dimension
Harvesting Round Poles
Interior Sculpted Wall
Interior Sculpted Wall
Thatch roof with bamboo poles, once common natural building materials in Japan
Japanese Roof
Nice lines on this beautiful garden shed
Living Roof
Mixing Earthen Plaster
Mixing Earthen Plaster
Mixing Plaster, barefoot 3
Mixing Plaster, barefoot 3
Penny Livingston explains natural plaster
Natural Building Workshop
Outbuilding with Cob Bench
Outbuilding with Cob Bench
Poles harvested in Spring for natural building peel easily, a garden spade works best
Peeling Poles
Recycled Windshields
Recycled Windshields
Reed mat has become a popular natural buildikng material, here it's used as a form for slipstraw, providing an excellent surface for earth plaster
Reed Mat for Slipstraw
With reed matting
Round Pole Roof
Pole construction with natural plaster
Round Pole with Slipstraw
Natural plaster mixed with chopped straw can be sculpted
Sculpting Plaster
Natural building materials lend themselves well to sculpting, as seen in this doudle hearth and earthen plaster
Sculpture
Natural building for poultry!
Slipstraw Chicken Coop
Most natural building techniques are accessible to all ages
Slipstraw Infill
Small diameter material can be woven into a sturdy wall
Wattle