Natural Building Network

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Comment by Jack Stephens on December 14, 2009 at 9:10am

Love the photo of Deanne Bednar's cottage in Michigan that is the avatar of this group. Flemming Abrahammson taught the thatching workshop with Deanne some years ago. Here's a link to her transition Michigan profile: http://transitionmichigan.ning.com/profile/DeanneBednar
Be sure to visit http://nbnetwork.org to network with other natural builders around the world. Your membership support would also be immensely helpful to fulfilling our mission :)

Comment by bob banner on August 19, 2009 at 5:01pm

send your message to this list is another option. good luck Sam. are you in SLO?

Comment by bob banner on August 19, 2009 at 4:59pm

Jack just joined the hopedance.org website where he is one of the main guys behind the natural building network and ought to be able to answer your questions.
See his profile at:
http://www.hopedance.org/profile/jack-stephens/profile
See the network at:
http://nbnetwork.org

hope this helps.
bob

Comment by Sam Fluitt on August 19, 2009 at 4:53pm

i was talking to some of my friends from back home, in SLO. One just graduated from Cal Poly in Civil Engineering, another in Construction Science, and a third in Architecture. I asked them about how much they've learned about natural building materials, and only the architect had some introduction into hay bale buildings. I therefore proceeded to describe the practice further. But I'm wondering right now if any of you fellows know of a website that includes the spectrum available, and/or a site that compiles a list of currently operating natural building experts/contractor, where they're located, etc.

I'll also be GOOGLE hunting around myself, but I thought i'd see if anyone's already done the leg work.
thanks,
sam

Comment by david hingston on December 27, 2008 at 6:17pm

Have we discussed what "Natrual Building" means? Here's a thought: the photo above -- of a fairly quaint little cottage-like house -- is, though charming, unrealistic. It suggests natural materials, compactness, a bucolic setting, and the notion that we can all live in detached, single-family houses sustainably. As an architectural vision of the future, this is unlikely to prove sustainable or resilient. Seems to me it is likely to lead to continued urban and suburban sprawl. I think the Transition Towns movement should be at (or close to) the forefront of an effort to create a new architectural ideal that doesn't require as much land per human being as does the detached, single-family house.

Comment by Matthew Sutherlin on November 30, 2008 at 3:32pm

Hi every one glad to have found you!

Comment by bob banner on October 28, 2008 at 8:34pm

sounds like a good connection to our advisory group in the Building arena. ciao.
bob
we finally reached 50!

Comment by Richard Smith on October 28, 2008 at 7:52pm

I think of you, Bob, and I think of ping-pong. You are all over the table but rarely off it. Thanks for starting this.

I expect our awesome local leaders in green building will be here soon and share their hard won wisdom in Transition design, materials, and techniques. In the meantime, I want to represent the bottom feeders, the do it yourself end of the spectrum. I want to share ideas about building really ecofriendly habitats with one's bare hands. This allows one to live so cheaply that they can afford to stay at home and create a relationship with their place that is joyful, right, and resilient,,, and the carbon footprint gets smaller and smaller,

I want to forge an alliance with our local green building leaders (I'm not not naming because I'm afraid I'll exclude somebody, and if you're here you know these terrific people).

I'd like to talk about getting access to land without owning it. About creating Habitat (capital intended) with waste materials and about using our local green building experts to lead the way .

I'd also like to share our personal building experience at the Sandgarden: how we clean our water, recycle this water to grow food (fish and gardens), use of self-heating and cooling techiques, and use of waste materials and natural products to build a beautiful home.

Richard at celebratewaste.

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