Ok, so I have seen this house design described by Bill Mollison, Jack Spirko and Geoff Lawton now... I love the idea and want MORE information. I classify this building style as distinctly different from the wofati design in that the exterior walls are themselvs made from as much as "6 meters" of compressed subsoil.
Unfortunately, the only video that I can find on the open interwebs (you try googling "compacted berm house") is Jack Spirko's, the least detailed description of the house. Thank You Jack for putting it out there! This was actually the first video I saw on it; it is/was a GREAT primer for recognizing the value when I heard Bill (and now Geoff) describe the same design.
https://youtu.be/gxtKOqkEqw4
As Geoff describes it in his PDC video (Climate, Minor Landscape Profiles: Flat Lands), the house's exterior walls are essentially a compressed soil pond dam/levee that is turned the "wrong" way (by 180 degrees). Instead of catching and storing tens of thousands of gallons of water above its mass, it displaces the water around itself.
Why won't it work? What are its flaws? Can those flaws be resolved? Does anyone have a link to a better explination?
Unfortunately, the only video that I can find on the open interwebs (you try googling "compacted berm house") is Jack Spirko's, the least detailed description of the house. Thank You Jack for putting it out there! This was actually the first video I saw on it; it is/was a GREAT primer for recognizing the value when I heard Bill (and now Geoff) describe the same design.
https://youtu.be/gxtKOqkEqw4
As Geoff describes it in his PDC video (Climate, Minor Landscape Profiles: Flat Lands), the house's exterior walls are essentially a compressed soil pond dam/levee that is turned the "wrong" way (by 180 degrees). Instead of catching and storing tens of thousands of gallons of water above its mass, it displaces the water around itself.
Why won't it work? What are its flaws? Can those flaws be resolved? Does anyone have a link to a better explination?