Very nice. Using the earth for mass & thermal stability. And a lightwieght simple roof. Right on.

The construction concept is great. Just need someone to design a community. I really like how few materials & components you are using.

This has excellent potential for mass duplication. My first negative reaction was about privacy and security with the windows so low and large.

Thanks,

@billie, I am working on the community plan and will have it up by the end of the day.

@calvinnhobbs88, I was thinking that the shutters would latch or lock from the interior. Maybe the opening toward the court could be bigger and the ones facing the exterior could be smaller and or higher.

Keep up the good work, consider/indicate costs

Aesthetically, I think your proportions are spot on for a building this size. Additionally, I think having low walls is an excellent idea as they will be less dangerous than full height walls in the event of an earthquake. If you have issues keeping it under $300, you could probably eliminate the interior ceiling and replace the shutter with curtains.

This strikes me as fun, attractive, and community oriented. Nice shutters. Structurally sound. Realistic for the budget depending on where materials are bought. Realistic idea of what a community needs to enjoy life. The communal cooking and sitting area could be larger. The drainage to the planter should be limited; add drainage going away from the community to prevent overwatering.

Have you thought on how to collect rainwater? As clean water may be difficult to find it could be wise to think how the rainwater coming down from the roofs might be collected so that it doesn't wet the central area completely, and at the same time the water could be used as drinking water / washing / watering crops.

This is a good design. I suggest adding split bamboo on some of the windows for privacy. Gaps between the bamboo allow light and breezes through.

Another option is to add a natural soil stabilizer such as PolyPavement or a competing brand in the soil mix.

The low solid walls with lighter framed upper walls is a logical solution and aesthetically very nice.

Nice Idea. Glad that you have thought of using it in several climates. What is the pricing for this? I would guess it would be closer to $700 as your materials are fairly expensive. Also how would this be secured? It looks like it might be an easy target for theives.

Lovely design and good presentation.. I would like to see cost list.

Mixing this layout with a few other ideas, like the COB, stamped earth or earth bag (or mine, the mini-cord) would help most of us.

It is a great way to provide a solid foundation and reduce costs! Feel free to use the Mini-cord bottom, I can get you any info you want for costs (or just look at it, and cut it in half, since you only need the bottom.) Best of luck!

I like your concept. Try to check PLATANHOUSE roof. It probably improved confort and reduce you price. It is something which abund tropics.

This is a lovely proposal. With your revisions, it really seems complete. All that I could add is that you will have to provide a solid foundation. If the CEBs are not cement stabilized, you might want to use gravel bags for the plinth wall, or stabilized CEBs. If the base of the wall is protected, an earthen wall survives well. And in high seismic risk areas the CEBs would have to be confined between reinforced concrete posts, right? I don't think most people are adding the reinforcement needed for high seismic risk areas into their base price, but it's something to consider. For cool areas, the CEBs could also have a layer of straw-clay added to the inside.

this proj + proj ground up would make a perfect proj. cheers! i'd swap wood for bamboo or simil.

Hallo DVS

A good design. Easy, fast and cheap to build by the people with a CEB machine.

Did you allso think about the foundation? CEB is just compressed earth and is water resistance against light rain attacks, but the bricks can not stand in the water in case of a monsoon rain. The clay part keeps the brick together, but will fall apart with to much water .

My advice is to build the first 30 or 40 cm with natural stones and a cement/lime mixure. You can allso press the foundation stones with geopolymer or concrete .

The connection between the foundation and the CEB's is easy, when the brick have holes inside. In the first two layers after the 30 cm foundation you can put concrete in the holes to make a solid connection.

All together this is a very realistic design and I wish you succes.

cheers.

I like this design. Simple, yet very versatile.

Love the fact you are thinking about buiding, imporving, renovating... good luck!

Congratulations!

Congrats! Great design ;)

Congratulation!

Congratulation !!!!!!!

I like the design. Could you really build it for $300 around the world? What if I gave you the chance to prove it?

I work at the Fuller Center for Housing. www.fullercenter.org

Let me know what you think. You can contact me directly at ryani[at]fullercenter.org (Replace the [at] with @. I wrote it that way to reduce spam.)

Would love the chance to prove it. I will send you an email shortly.

Where are the dimensions? I would like to build some of these here in the US for retreat cabins. Nice work.

For The past 5 years I've been working on designing a 80% sustainable village for 144 people. This is one of the best design I've seen to date. Thanks for your hard. One might ask why a 100% sustainable, well unless one's village has mines for every metal needed and salt to boot that never runs out it's impossible. So I went what possible. Like the fact it takes 1.9 ac of land/person; here the breakdown:
1.9 acre per person living in a sustainable village (1.9 = 144 people 273.6 acres)

• 0.6250 acre of farmland/person
• 0.0892 acre of farmland to be sold/person
• 0.2321 acre of living area/person
• 0.0214 acre of wine vineyards/person
• 0.0714 acre of ponds/person
• 0.0214 acre of coffee/person
• 0.0071 acre of teas/person
• 0.0142 acre of herbs/person
• 0.1428 acre of schools/person
• 0.2142 acre of park & wildlife/person
• 0.1428 acre of village square/person
• 0.1785 acre of livestock/person
• 0.1392 acre of roads & ect/person