Why natural building?
The many variations of materials and techniques to natural building make it possible for anyone with a little corner of available land to build themselves a shelter big or small. Technics can be simplified to adapt to the physical capacity of the labor at hand and time available. For example a young couple can start off with just a little clay hut for privacy, to sleep in, and to keep their valuables. Living and cooking can be done in an outdoor sheltered area with a roof's protection from the rain and some simple counters and platforms to facilitate life. When the family expands it is easy to build another clay hut. There is also the possibility of screening in the covered space below the roof with bamboo slats and when time allows the family can cob over the bamboo with a local mud mix leaving openings for light to enter and with time and minimal expense they will have four wall or more under their roof. The walls can be simple or eloquently decorated as the cob mix easily lends itself to sculpting. The possibilities are many and here in South-East Asia the climate is mostly demanding of a roof -walls are for privacy- and a foundation which is needed to keep the moisture off the mud (cob or adobe), bamboo and wood structures that hold up the roofs. In this way anyone can build their own house.
Clay building techniques have traditionally been used by many people in rural Thailand. Using clay to build a house or any other building has various
advantages. It is…
Sustainable and environmentally friendly
almost all materials, such as clay, sand, grass, water and bamboo can be found in the local area. There is a lower need for prefabricated materials that often have to be transported over long distances. Clay building techniques therefore offer an environmentally conscious alternative to other building methods.
Easy
with the right information everyone can build a clay house.
Cheap
You do not need large amounts of money to buy materials or to pay for construction workers.
Cool
Inside a clay house it stays cool even during the hottest hours of the day. The clay walls control the inside temperature and in a similar way make sure that it does
not get too cold at night.
development considerations are getting more important in the different levels of the
society. Even if the actions are oft
