May 27, 2007 at 1:07 pm (Architect, Ecology, General, Strawbale building)
Tags: Architect, Casa Calida, Pictures, Strawbale building
When we saw an article in the newspaper about “Casa Calida” we were completely sold. What a great house! Beautiful, ecologically sound and affordable! What else do you want? It’s a house built of wood with well-insulated walls of strawbales and an earthen plaster (we call it ‘leem’ in Belgium). Fantastic!
Of course we wanted to see it with our own eyes. Since the house is both a holiday house and a show ‘n’ tell that shouldn’t be a problem. A simple phone call to the architect and we’re off to Limburg.
Nice, warm, lovely and friendly. Both the house and the architect. We’re completey sold 
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May 27, 2007 at 12:58 pm (Design, Earthships, Ecology, General)
Tags: Building, Earthships, Ecological, Environment, Regulations, Sustainable, Waste
Love at first sight? The waaw feeling? Take a look at the ‘Earthship’…
A sustainable and environmental friendly house, that takes care of it’s inhabitants independently. A selfsufficient home that is in no way connected to the grid (watersupply, electricity, sewage,..).
Photovoltaic solarpanels, windturbines and catching and reusing rainwater make the earthship entirely selfsustainable. By applying materials like used tires, glass bottles, aluminum cans and scraps of wood, this building technique minimizes waste issues.
Another great benefit of the earthship is that you can grow vegetables, fruits and herbs in the built in greenhouse. With the beautiful curves and shapes of the buidling, it is really love at first sight.
One BIG problem: nobody ever got a permit for this sort of building in Belgium. And as regulations are getting tighter, we see the chances of that happening diminishing. A friend of ours working for the building regulation thinks we don’t have much chance of getting a permit in Belgium. That’s too bad.
But we keep a bit of hope. In a few countries in Europe people are building earthships. Oscar and Lisa have a project in Spain, a demonstration earthship has been built in Brighton (England) and Fife (Scotland). There is an earthship being built in Ger (France). And a few people in the Netherlands are working on it. So the earthship concept seems to be spreading from America where it all started to Europe. So maybe, one day in Belgium too?
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May 27, 2007 at 12:52 pm (Design, General, Land, Plans, Strawbale building)
Tags: Budget, Building, City, Country living, Dreams, Environment
For a number of years we’ve been talking about moving. That always happens in the summer. During the winter season we like living in the city. You know, shops around the corner, the zoo nearby, shoppingstreets in the neighbourhood, that kind of thing. But in the summer we get that itch. And with the children it has become worse.
I want, well, i would like a house in the country. Complete with a vegetable garden, chickens, an orchard, a yurt or gipsywagon, a swimming pond and a fire place. Not bad those wishes of ours.
After a while searching for such a house, we’ve come to the conclusion that it is impossible to find it. Or rahter, not with the budget we have. To cut a long story short, we’ve discovered that most houses are too ugly, too small, too expensive or need far too much work.
So, what remains? Building!
But we don’t like regular stuff, yeah? 
As far as Arq – environmentalist to the bone – is concerned, building is not done. Except when building a really ecologically sound dwelling. So that’s what we’re aiming for!
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