Double Unit Ecoresort

This ecoresort design joins two earthbag roundhouses with private baths between. (click to enlarge)

Specifications: Two 16′ diameter roundhouses = 402 sq. ft. interior plus 80 sq. ft. baths, total 482 sq. ft. interior (241 per unit), 1 bed, 1 bath per unit, Footprint: 19′ x 49’

Description: This ecoresort design joins two earthbag roundhouses with private baths between. The roof extends over the porch to create a shaded area with benches for relaxing. Windows on all sides provide optimum ventilation and thermal comfort (15 degrees F or 8 degrees C cooler inside than out). Glass block and bottle walls add a splash of color and fun. Thatch could be used, although metal roofing is more durable and fire resistant, requires less maintenance and allows for roofwater collection. With just a little modification, the two units could be joined to create a home by enclosing the porch as a passageway, converting one bathroom into a laundry room, and deleting one kitchen.

Double Unit Ecoresort floorplan. (click to enlarge)

When something works exceeding well, it makes sense to pursue similar options. I’ve been saying for some time that earthbag roundhouses are the simplest, fastest, easiest, most practical way to build with earthbags. (Domes are great in some ways, but they have certain design limitations and are not the best choice for our hot, rainy climate. Square and rectangular designs have some benefits, but tend to be a bit boring, especially for an ecoresort, and long straight walls require additional support.)

That’s one reason I’ve created designs such as Two Roundhouses with Greenhouse, Three Roundhouses Design, my Hobbit designs, as well as numerous other roundhouse designs at Earthbag House Plans. (You can easily browse all roundhouse plans by selecting ‘Round’ in the Category menu on the right side of the page.) Note — most people end up modifying these basic designs to meet their needs, which can easily be done for a modest fee.

Each step of construction is explained in this Earthbag Roundhouse Instructable.

All plans are available through Dream Green Homes. Not all plans are shown. Just ask if there’s something you don’t see.

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Rainwater Towers Apartments 2

Rainwater Towers Apartments 2 (click to enlarge)

Specifications: Four 16′ interior diameter roundhouses and one 12’ interior bath, total 842 sq. ft. interior, two bedrooms, one bath, Footprint: 50′ x 50′

Description: This three-story, triple roundhouse tower apartment complex is designed to provide affordable housing in urban areas. The towers are primarily earthen construction. Made with earthbag tubes filled with earth and tamped solid, very few manufactured/processed materials are required. This greatly reduces construction costs. The apartment name comes from the fact rainwater is captured on the roof and stored in cisterns, which reduces demand on city water supplies. Each apartment is accessible by a spiral staircase in the front tower. Features include two spacious 201 sq. ft. bedrooms with large closets, modern kitchen and bath, pantry and comfortable living room. All rooms are round to create an embracing, inviting ambience. The round towers are naturally stable and form a visually striking exterior.

Rainwater Towers Apartments 2 floorplan (click to enlarge)

Over 130 designs at Earthbag House Plans
Rainwater Towers Apartments 1

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Rainwater Towers Apartments

Rainwater Towers Apartments (click to enlarge)

Specifications: Three 16′ interior diameter roundhouses, total 660 sq. ft. interior, one bedroom, one bath, Footprint: 39′ x 43′

Description: This three-story, triple roundhouse tower apartment complex is designed to provide affordable housing in urban areas. The towers are primarily earthen construction. Made with earthbag tubes filled with earth and tamped solid, very few manufactured/processed materials are required. This greatly reduces construction costs. The apartment name comes from the fact rainwater is captured on the roof and directed to underground cisterns, which reduces demand on city water supplies. Each apartment is accessible by a spiral staircase in the front tower. Features include spacious 201 sq. ft. bedroom with large closet, modern kitchen and comfortable living room. All rooms are round to create an embracing, inviting ambience. The round towers are naturally stable and form a visually striking exterior.

Rainwater Towers Apartments floorplan (click to enlarge)

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HNC Earthbag House

HNC Earthbag House (click to enlarge)

“The Haitian National Congress (HNC) asked me to conduct training next May for bright and eager Haitian adult citizens who want to become entrepreneurs, nudge their country more toward functional democracy, learn problem solving skills and learn free enterprise practices that will increase their personal income. These trainees will then return to each of Haiti’s 10 departments to teach others about developing cottage businesses, managing money, establishing new markets, increasing vegetable production and more.

Haiti needs more housing stock. For the individual Haitian, owning a home and building equity in it is a way to better oneself financially. HNC is working with folks who have minimal income. HNC encourages them to build wealth which helps the country build a stronger economy. That leads to more jobs, more children getting educated, better health care, etc. To have value in the housing market, they need a house that is modern (plumbing and electricity), durable (earthquake and hurricane resistant) and of course, affordable. With a modern and durable house as collateral you can borrow money to start a small business. Lack of access to capital is a major barrier in the third world to individuals lifting themselves out of poverty. Earthbag houses are perfect. Hands on learning how to build an earthbag house will be an important part of the HNC training. The trainees will learn, and they will in turn train others in earthbag building. Modifications can be made in the field in response to local feedback.

Dr. Owen Geiger took my basic ideas, enhanced them greatly and developed an attractive plan. It is a durable and leak proof ‘core house’ with a multipurpose room (kitchen and living room), bathroom and bedroom. There is a covered, raised, and railed front porch for Haitian style outdoor living and for social gathering. Also, Dr. Geiger designed the walls a bit higher than 8’, dropped the ceiling slightly and put two ladder accessible lofts above. There are covered porches around the entire house that can serve as outdoor cooking, food preparation and work areas. They can also be easily converted into additional rooms. HNC and I are happy with this earthbag house plan that offers so much flexibility. The owners will have several options for sleeping, storage and work areas. While the disaster resistant core house remains the same, the lofts and porches allow each family to set up the house just the way they like it in order to meet their specific needs.”

HNC Earthbag House floorplan (click to enlarge)

Specifications: 288 sq. ft. interior, 274 sq. ft. loft, one bedroom, one bath, covered porch area: 903 sq. ft., footprint: 31’x43’

Source: Dr. Jerry Epps Teach Democracy
HNC House website with free plans coming soon

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Three Roundhouses Design

Three Roundhouses Design (click to enlarge)

This plan illustrates what I think is the simplest, easiest way to build an earthbag home: build in stages, one roundhouse at a time so you can pay with cash and move in right away. It’s far easier to start small and add on later than jump right into building a large home that could take months or even years. I’ve talked about this a lot on our blog, but this is my first plan designed specifically for building in stages. This is becoming one of my favorites. What do you think?

The Three Roundhouses design combines:
– Hobbit House (starter house in this design): 471 sq. ft. interior, optional 471 sq. ft. loft, one bedroom, one bath, Footprint: 27′-6″ diameter
– Roundhouse Studio (master bedroom in this design): 177 sq. ft. interior, fold-out bed, 1 bath, Footprint: 18′ diameter, plus buttress
– 33’ (10m) Roundhouse: 855 sq. ft. interior, 1 bedroom, 1 bath, Footprint: 36′ diameter
Total living space: 1,503 sq. ft. interior

Three Roundhouses Design (click to enlarge)

Related:
The Most Bang for the Buck? Part 1
What’s the Easiest Shape to Build?

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Solar Pit House

Solar Pit House (click to enlarge)

Specifications: 1,127 sq. ft. interior living space, 441 sq. ft. interior greenhouse, total = 1,568 sq. ft. interior, Footprint: 36’x53’

Description: This modern solar pit house is based on the traditional pit house. The construction is much the same. Additional ‘modules’ have been added to create an elongated rectangular design for added living space and windows added on the south for solar gain. Each module is based on wood posts set in geopolymer or concrete footings. Wood beams approximately 10”-12” diameter are joined at the posts with half lap joints and pinned in place with rebar or logging spikes. Smaller poles around the perimeter lean against the beams. 24” wide earthbag walls with a reinforced geopolymer or concrete bond beam rest on rubble trench foundations.

Solar Pit House (click to enlarge)

Solar Pit House Section View (click to enlarge)

Complete drawings available at http://naturalbuildingblog.com/house-plans/free-house-plans/.
More information at our Natural Building Blog:
Solar Pit House Building Details
Evolution of the Pit House
Affordable, Superinsulated Cold Climate Homes

Note to other designers: I’d like to refine this design with input from other design professionals and make all drawings freely available on the Internet. Please email me at strawhouses [at] yahoo.com if you would like to contribute. Or just leave a comment here if you’re short on time.

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Earthbag Building Guide Now Available!

New Earthbag Building Guide by Owen Geiger is Now Available!

Earthbag Building Guide: Vertical Walls Step-by-Step
By Owen Geiger

Free ebook with all house plan orders! See below.

Much has been learned about earthbag building over the last few decades through research, trial and error, and sharing of information. It is becoming increasingly clear what works best and why. And now with engineer-approved methods for building in code-enforced areas, it is time to pull the most practical ideas together and take this movement to the next level.

This builder’s guide does that by providing simple, clear explanations of each step of construction, from earthbag foundations that don’t require concrete, to complete information on tools and supplies, as well as tips, tricks and advanced earthbag techniques.

All major aspects of building earthbag houses are covered: Planning; $10/sq. ft. dirt cheap building techniques; Building code issues; Electrical and Plumbing; Cost estimating; How to build insulated earthbag houses; How to make earthbag benches, and privacy and retaining walls for next to nothing. It is profusely illustrated with about 185 color photos and detail drawings.

The Earthbag Building Guide by Owen Geiger is now available for $20 as a PDF download. The ebook is available for free with all new house plan orders through Earthbag House Plans and DreamGreenHomes.com.

You will need a recent version of Adobe Reader for the book to display properly. http://get.adobe.com/reader/

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$300 Earthbag House

$300 Earthbag House (click to enlarge)

Description: 11.1 sq. m. interior, 5.4 sq. m. sleeping loft, 11.2 sq. m. patio for cooking and socializing. Single units can be expanded by adding on in any direction or joined to create multi-unit structures. Almost all materials are free or recycled: grain bags, rubble, clay, door, security bars, earthen plaster and floors, or locally available, natural materials: bamboo, rice hull insulation.

$300 Earthbag House (click to enlarge)

This is my entry for ‘The $300 House Open Design Challenge.’ Over the next two weeks I’ll be adding more drawings and fleshing out my proposal. The challenge is to design affordable housing for the world’s poorest. You can view other proposals here. Several other earthbag house designs have already been submitted. The $300 House was first described in a Harvard Business Review blog post by Vijay Govindarajan and Christian Sarkar. More info at The $300 House.

$300 Earthbag House with Additions (click to enlarge)

Option B: Starter Home with Additions
This is the same house with two rooms added on. One of the key advantages of this design is the ability to add on in any direction, so I wanted to show what this could look like. This larger version doubles the living area from 27.7 to 55.4 sq. meters, including the porch.

$300 Earthbag House with Additions (click to enlarge)

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Triple Dome Survival Shelter

Triple Dome Survival Shelter (click to enlarge)

Specifications: Three 16′ interior diameter domes with 603 sq. ft. interior, 3 sleeping lofts with 312 sq. ft., total 915 sq. ft. interior, one bedroom, one bath, Footprint: 38′ x 38′

Description: This Triple Dome Survival Shelter provides much more space than my first earthbag survival shelter. This design is for long term survival for a family. It is earthquake and fire resistant, bullet and nuclear fallout resistant. It is built above grade to reduce risk of flooding. Features include buried cistern between the domes, plenty of storage space, vaulted entry with bullet resistant cellar door. Let’s hope for the best, but it’s also prudent to be prepared for the worst.

Triple Dome Survival Shelter (click to enlarge)

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Roundhouse with Yurt

Roundhouse with Yurt (click to enlarge)

Specifications: 20′ diameter yurt with 314 sq. ft. interior, 20′ diameter roundhouse with 227 sq. ft. interior, total = 541 sq. ft. interior, Footprint: 20′ x 20′ plus deck

Description: This is an interesting design with numerous benefits. The roundhouse provides low cost space and a stable base for the yurt. The elevated yurt captures the views and breezes, and eliminates the need for building a roof (which is often an issue for those lacking carpentry experience). The deck adds extended living space and protects lower walls.

Note: this open plan can be arranged to your specifications.

Options:
Insulated earthbag foundation
Insulated yurts using earthbags

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