www.motherearthnews.com interviewed Sigi Koko for a podcast that you can hear at that link. Below are some of her comments:

I have a graduate degree in architecture and I then had worked for a construction company doing just conventional housing construction to get some experience building so that I could talk to builders better and know what their job was like a little bit better. And then I worked for an architecture company and then soon as I was done with my apprenticeship, I was outta there.

To me natural building is using the materials that you have available locally, that you have in abundance, that you can harvest without harm, and using those materials to build the most energy efficient building that you can. It doesnt mean everything is dug out of your yard to build your house, but the goal is to use as many natural materials, as many materials from nature in our surroundings as possible.

So generally that means a pallet of generally agricultural fibers. So were talking straw, right? Were talking clay from the ground, stone. And if it can be respectfully harvested or locally harvested in a respectful non environmentally damaging manner.

There are examples of natural buildings everywhere in the world. 70% of the world  population lives in a home that has clay in it, for example. Some of that is necessity, some of that is tradition, and some of that, in the U.S., its getting back to something that was there for a really long time. I would say if you live anywhere in the U.S. you could certainly find someone who understands how to design and/or help you build a natural building.

I would rather have lots of different building designs, lots of different looks, lots of different aesthetics, lots of different functionality. And then have this material palette that can be used to make the building look however you want thats also then healthy. That also has a low carbon footprint and that are just beautiful homes, right?

If Im building som...

Thousands of people in Puerto Rico were still living under blue tarps three years after Hurricane Maria struck the island, and more than 30,000 families asked the government for assistance after the storm destroyed or damaged their homes.  This is why Paula Paoli and Owen Ingley are in Las Maras, Puerto Rico, and hope to help homeowners avoid the destruction of houses in the future. The couple are ingtroducing Superadobe domes to help people who have lost their homes replace them with structures that have the resiliency to withstand weather events that devastate Puerto Rico with increasing frequency.

An emergency relief structure could be built for as cheap as $1,500 to $2,000 in materials, Ingley says.  A tiny, more permanent home could be built between the range of $8,000 to $15,000.

The couple founded Plenitud, a nonprofit educational farm and community in the western part of the island. They build these homes as emergency relief and promote SuperAdobe as a alternative to other kinds of new homes. It is up to some nonprofits to further the construction of this type of housing on the island, since it is not an officially approved repair or reconstruction method for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The SuperAdobe construction method is finally coming up to a final assessment by the International Code Council, a body of construction experts and engineers that certifies acceptable methods for construction.

At first glance, a SuperAdobe house resembles an igloo. According to Ingley, earthbag build...