natural

Tiny Straw Bale Cabins

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by Gabriella Morrison The options available with styles, building techniques, and materials used to create tiny houses are various (vive la différence!). Some tiny homes rest on solid foundations while others are on trailers. Some are modern in style and others more rustic. The list goes on and there is … Read more

Green Valley Natural Builders Tiny House

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For their first tiny house, Green Valley Natural Builders in Sebastopol, CA decided to build something very small, but beautiful, using only natural, unprocessed and re-used materials. What they came up with is a delightful tiny structure on wheels that cost only $1,500 to build. Because the small company is … Read more

Norwegian Koie (Little Cabin)

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Even if you don’t plan on making a back country trip to Norway any time soon, these tiny cabins may give you a few ideas on how to create a tiny house that melds nearly seamlessly with its natural surroundings. Koiene (pronounced koi-eh-n) are a system of tiny, convenient cabins … Read more

The ecoPerch

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Treehouses have been making the news lately with Deek Diedrickson’s “Wolfe’s Den” and Joel Allen’s HemLoft. Across the pond, the ecoPerch is a new tiny house design based on a treehouse from the Blue Forest company in the U.K. This beautiful structure is designed to fit into the natural surroundings … Read more

RVC Outdoor Destinations

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by Katie Breyer

I work with a company (RVC Outdoor Destinations) that has created & branded the concept of Outdoor Destinations. These are basically outdoor resorts for luxurious camping with upscale amenities and accommodations mixed with beautiful natural environments. I’d like to tell you a little bit about their unique lodging options…

Cottages
RVC worked with Athens Park Homes to create their own customized RVC Resort Cottages. They come fully furnished with lofts, flat screen TVs, washers/dryers, bathrooms, fully appointed kitchens, and fresh bed linens & towels. They also include a BBQ grill, picnic table, and fire ring for outdoor cooking and gathering. While RVC Resort Cottages are small, they can sleep up to four adults and two children with the bedroom, loft and fold-out sofa.

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Living in the Future

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According to the Lammas ecovillage in Wales, living in the future means looking to the past. This series of videos shows the baby ecovillage’s plans and struggles to develop a low impact village in the open countryside. The series also profiles several other successful ecovillages around Europe. The village is named after the pagan holiday that celebrates the abundance of the fall months.

Lammas is the United Kingdom’s first planned ecovillage and is sited on 76 acres of mixed pasture and woodland in Pembrokeshire. The houses use low-impact architecture which uses a combination of recycled and natural materials. The village will contain five detached buildings and one terrace of four dwellings. The homes will be built of straw bale, earth, timber frame and cob; they will have turf roofs and wool insulation and will blend into the landscape.

The videos (also available as podcasts) cover everything from searching for land, working with local codes, inspectors and design councils, examples of different types of natural building including straw bale and cob, surviving cold weather, self-sufficiency, growing your own food, and keeping community intact. The ecovillages profiled are Cae Mabon, The Village, Ireland and Findhorn. That Roundhouse by Tony Wrench is also featured.

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Cae Mabon

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The Cae Mabon Retreat Centre in North Wales has been building small, natural dwellings for their residents and visitors since 1989. This intentional community is located in the best of what nature can offer: in the woods, by a river, near a lake, at the foot of the mountains and within sight of the sea.

Cae Mabon’s principal creator is Eric Maddern, who was inspired to create the community after spending time with the Aboriginal people in Alice Springs, Australia. He wanted to create a place that was not the ostentatious beauty of the wealthy but the humble beauty of the simple and natural. The buildings he created are mostly made from timber, stone, reed, straw, grass, lime and clay and they blend in with their surroundings.

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Habitats Hawai’i

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While most of us around the continental U.S. are experiencing the nip of winter cold, these tiny houses on the Big Island of Hawai’i are looking wonderful in their warm, tropical environment. Habitats Hawai’i are tiny homes on wheels created to simplify life and to live in a blended environment with the outdoors. The Habitats are a self contained living space which offer all of the basic necessities which one can then expand by way of arbors, plants, stone and water. Each of the homes are wired for 110 volts and are solar ready.

The Paniola is the first and premier model built with attention to quality and detail. The finishes include Sapele wood custom cabinetry, bamboo flooring, glass raindrop door between the bathroom and the kitchen, full insulation, refrigerator, two-burner stove, on demand hot water heater, a heater for cooler nights, Wilsonart countertops, an office, and an indoor bathroom with a shower and a composting toilet. The ladder is a unique and ergonomic design custom made from beautiful Sapele wood. The dimensions of the Paniola are 16 feet x 9 feet x 14 feet and there is a comfortable sleeping loft with windows above the kitchen. The Paniola is solar ready, wired for 110 volts and set up for a rain water catchment system. This Habitat is available to see by appointment only. Please call Barrie Rose at 808-960-6785. You will have the opportunity to discuss custom designs to fit your individual needs.

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The E-den and the Hut

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The E-den and the Hut are two new outdoor living/tiny house designs by the UK company Timber Tradesmen. Timber Tradesmen are selling these tiny buildings as alternative options to camping in a tent or trailer, or as a tiny office, but I think they would each make a great tiny house. Both of these buildings have a unique, organic design that fit comfortably in any surrounding, while providing an uncluttered, spacious interior – complete with a large bunk bed, full insulation and storage space. They also include an optional deck and and a canvas canopy for additional luxury and privacy.

The E-den is hand built by skilled craftsmen in Somerset using a combination of timber and steel framework, locally sourced materials and incorporating modern timber frame construction techniques. They each include a wide door for people with mobility problems, a large roof window for natural light, and electricity can be added into each E-den. They are each constructed in a workshop and delivered as a complete unit on a trailer. To launch the project the company has decided to sell the first 10 E-dens at cost to establish them in the marketplace, therefore the prices below are a genuine special offer and will be offered on a first come first served basis.

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That Roundhouse

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This roundhouse, built of cordwood, cob, straw and recycled windows, is located in southwest Wales and owned by Tony Wrench. It’s not only a low impact, natural dwelling built with what was on hand, but it’s become a symbol for the rights of natural builders within the United Kingdom.

The house was built in 1997 by Tony and featured solar power, a wind turbine, composting toilet and reed beds for gray water. Tony based this house on American Indian designs he had seen in history books. In the past, he had had experience building “wacky structures” and wanted to live as close to the land as possible. Even though he built it inside Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, with agreement from the owners of the land, he never got permission for the structure from the local planning board. After several court appearances, he and his partner, Jane, decided to demolish it in 2004, but changed their minds after public demonstrations persuaded them not to. The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority attempted to get a court injunction to force Tony to demolish it, but were persuaded to allow it to stay up until July 2006, when they could re-apply under the new Low Impact Policy. In 2008, the committee voted to give Tony a conditional for three years. So – the roundhouse still stands.

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Beautiful Cob

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For next summer, I’ve been looking at taking a cob building workshop to update my building skills, learn some natural building techniques, and get closer to the natural world. The process of building a tiny house out of earth and found materials is very appealing. While doing my research, I came across a few tiny cob houses that I thought epitomized how warm, human-scaled and friendly they can be. Some of these were so beautiful, I just had to share.

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Shelter House

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While this eco-friendly and beautiful home is not really tiny, elements of the interesting “wing” design can be taken into consideration for a tiny house design. The Shelter House by Franklin Azzi Architecture is located in Yport, near Normandy, France. The two expansions which protrude on opposite sides of the house, resemble wings with covered patios and rooftop terraces.

This modern, sustainable home is constructed mainly of wood with a rustic masonry face, and features a rainwater-recycling system, geothermal energy, and solar panels that keep this house off the grid. The building materials are recyclable and locally sourced from within 100 km of the home’s location, and then assembled on-site. Vegetable fibers are used for walls and insulation, heating comes via wood-burning stove, and cooling and ventilation are passive. In addition, all the equipment providing hot water facilities have been placed outside the home, in a gallery 30 meters long, which is dug into the hillside. A final system supplies the toilets from the recovery of rainwater, stored in a 200 liter underground tank.

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