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.
Cob Cottage Company
Photos by Marisa Pereira
Photo by Kristi and/or Jimbo Diebley.
Other tiny cob home links:
By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]
THIS is what I’ve been seearching for! Where can I learn to build one?
Hi Michael, I don’t know where you are located but here are a couple of cob workshops:
In Oregon
http://www.cobcottage.com/workshops
In Texas
http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/2010/08/23/hybrid-cobearthship-workshop-in-october/
Also check out this page on Natural Homes http://naturalhomes.org/
I also think Real Goods offers a cob workshop but I was not able to track it down. http://www.realgoods.com/
Oh, these really appeal to me. Much more my kind of thing than something built on a metal platform with wheels instead of attached to the ground. They are both beautiful and livable, very warm and inviting. I’d love to live in a community of these. Who knows: maybe it will happen. Jeannette, are you watching?
Another one on Mayne Island in BC http://www.cobworks.com/ Has a catchy little tune on the website too. There is a cob house tour coming up August 28 on Mayne, a cob and carpentry workshop in September.
A few more workshops are here:
http://cobworkshops.org
http://www.kleiwerks.com
Probably one of the best books I’ve read on cob is The Hand Sculpted House by the founders of the Cob Cottage Company in Oregon.
What a great post Christina. I still have never seen one of these in person, they look warm and inviting. Must be a good feeling to live in one. I’ll have to pick up one of those books.
Oh, these are so warm and beautiful! I love the fact that all the “edges” are soft and round. I love that so much of the home has built-ins, and little personal touches (like the exclamation point!). I can’t wait for the day when I can go to a workshop and build one of these cob cottages myself. These are the homes I imagined as a child, and loved to daydream about a small, safe, loving home built around the trunk of a big old weeping willow tree, hidden from the rest of the world by the sweep of green branches. Thank you so much for this post.
How well do cobb houses hold up in central canadian winters/rain such as in Ontario? I’m thinking of building a cobb house on my property but i’m not sure how kind our extreme weather will be to it.