The Natural Building movement focuses on the use of locally available, renewable resources in order to cut down on the need for fossil fuels and reduce environmental impact. Structures are constructed with local stone, timber, clay soil, straws, and grasses. The use of cement is limited to a minimum if not absent.
My visits to the Inanitah Community in Ometepe, Nicaragua, to Gambhira Eco Village in Colombia, and to their natural building laboratory was very inspiring.
Roofs. The traditional roofs are made of wood and interlaced palm leaves or grasses, which create a thick beautiful protection for the rain. Platano is the strongest wood and originally used for sacred buildings. A lot of refurbished wood is used as well. The overhang is typically pretty deep insuring enough shade to keep the building cool. Clay tile roofs are also common and typically set on a wooden structure.
Walls. Vernacular and natural buildings have often walls made out of mud, straws, and horse waste. The result is a very solid and strong wall that has great insulation properties. It's built compacting layers of this material so that there are no crevices left. No forms are used but just horizontal and vertical strings to guide the alignment. There could be vertical cavities running inside the thickness of the wall to improve insulation, or horizontal openings to improve cross ventilation. The finish is applied with layers of a progressively more refined mix of mud. Wood is also used for vertical enclosures in traditional architecture.
Often the most solid material is used only up to the bottom of the windows, leaving the upper part to lighter structures made with bamboo or similar. Cross Ventilation is extremely important and often the walls have permanent openings covered with mosquito nets.
My visits to the Inanitah Community in Ometepe, Nicaragua, to Gambhira Eco Village in Colombia, and to their natural building laboratory was very inspiring.
Roofs. The traditional roofs are made of wood and interlaced palm leaves or grasses, which create a thick beautiful protection for the rain. Platano is the strongest wood and originally used for sacred buildings. A lot of refurbished wood is used as well. The overhang is typically pretty deep insuring enough shade to keep the building cool. Clay tile roofs are also common and typically set on a wooden structure.
Walls. Vernacular and natural buildings have often walls made out of mud, straws, and horse waste. The result is a very solid and strong wall that has great insulation properties. It's built compacting layers of this material so that there are no crevices left. No forms are used but just horizontal and vertical strings to guide the alignment. There could be vertical cavities running inside the thickness of the wall to improve insulation, or horizontal openings to improve cross ventilation. The finish is applied with layers of a progressively more refined mix of mud. Wood is also used for vertical enclosures in traditional architecture.
Often the most solid material is used only up to the bottom of the windows, leaving the upper part to lighter structures made with bamboo or similar. Cross Ventilation is extremely important and often the walls have permanent openings covered with mosquito nets.