Building with Rice Hulls

The earth bag building project I mentioned in an earlier post here on Building with Earth is rapidly taking shape. It is a home for a family of orphans on an Indian Reservation in South Dakota, USA. When I visited them last February, they were living in a mobile home with constant plumbing problems and very high heating bills.

So an inspiring group called Natures Compassion in my home town in Iowa decided to do something about it. They organized a fund raiser at Fairfield's new Convention Center led by the mayor of Fairfield. Funds were enough to build the family a home. Volunteers are now on site and building the home. They want to attract public support for other families on the reserve by building a first class eco home at very low cost and already some major magazines are interested to publish stories.

Owing to the extreme cold they decided to do two layers of bags - one earth and one with rice hulls on the exterior for insulation. The main structure should be in up in 2 weeks. Then comes the finishing - they will use only the best natural ingredients and energy saving technologies.

More pictures here.