We will be constructing with earth, wood, stone, straw, water, and fire.

 

Building with local, natural materials offers a number of advantages over conventional materials. These materials have been used traditionally around the globe as the most appropriate adaptation to regional geographic and climatic conditions. Physical examples 500-1000 years old are not uncommon with these materials.

 

Construction and maintenance often involve the community, as the techniques are easily shared and learned. This offers economic development opportunities as well for a wide cross section of a given community. As one of innumerable examples, elders and youth could work together spending time (at their own pace) in the forest gathering saplings for wattle work. This material could then be purchased for construction use.

 

Utilizing the local natural materials and techniques selected for this construction result in building assemblies that have been proven outperform conventional building assemblies. Vapour permeable assemblies with with high moisture storage capacities have been demonstrated time and again to passively balance surface relative humidifies- the single most effective control mechanism for mitigating mold and mildew. Interior relative humidity is also maintained at an equilibrium which is most beneficial to human health. Unlike synthetic materials, there are no chemicals to offgas creating toxic interior air quality.

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