Read free. The art of natural building : design, construction, resources, by Joseph F. Kennedy, 2002.
Excerpt
Representing every major natural building technique, and written by some of the most prominent innovators and advocates in the field, this collection … this book is far more than just a survey of techniques. It provides a philosophical framework for the entire natural building movement, as well as a set of design principles broadly applicable to ecological design projects everywhere. Our goal is a whole systems approach to natural building. By integrating the work of the dozens of visionaries presented here into a single coherent text, we hope to provide newcomers with a comprehensive introduction to the field, while filling in gaps in the knowledge of readers already familiar with some pieces of the puzzle.
But our aspirations go beyond just informing our readers of what other people are doing. Our greatest desire is that this book will be a doorway through which many of you will step in order to join the natural building movement. We hope that the case studies at the end of the book and the photographs throughout will help make the concepts and techniques discussed elsewhere more real and get you excited about handcrafting your own personalized structure.
The chapters describing construction techniques should give you a good basis for determining which ones appeal to you and make the most sense under specific circumstances, but they will not give you all the details you need to go out and start building. Therefore, at the end of each chapter, we have listed a few of the best books, periodicals, and websites where you can find more information about that technique, as well as providers of workshops and other hands-on learning opportunities. We strongly encourage you to take advantage of the latter; a few days spent practicing a natural building technique with a skilled instructor will give you more confidence and ability than all the volumes ever written.
Introductory Pages
