Joe Proto

Christian that is a great break down of cost per room in using sheet material. Have you had success in building an earthbag house? If so how large of a structure have you built? Did you have any permitting issues?

Thanks for all the replies, I have enjoyed reading over them and think that there are a lot of good issues being raised. There is quite a bit of material since I last checked this post so I am going to generalize what I have interpreted from reading over the responses, please forgive me for not being overly specific.

I realize now that I should have clarified from the beginning that wikihouse is in the developmental phases and is not a mature project yet. This is important because its identity is not static, its goals and process are not set in stone and maybe I presented the organization as a discreet entity with set process and procedure. Wikihouse is a global effort and anyone can contribute to it, including anyone involved in this post. I think that a lot of what has been discussed in this post should be discussed on the wikihouse forums as well. I may consider posting a link to this post on the wikihouse forums to garner their feedback. One of wikihouse's main design tenants is to be environmentally conscious and that is commendable because a lot of modern design doesn't work from that mindset from the get go.

I have noticed through the responses of this post that there seems to be a hangup on the idea of using plywood, which I agree is not an environmentally sustainable product, but wikihouse is only in the developmental stages and the final material to be used is open for discussion. Another design principle that wikihouse uses is to design for the location that you are in

As a general rule, design for the climate, culture, economy and legal / planning framework in which you live, and you know best. Others will then be able to adapt the design to suit their environment.

Again I urge readers of this post to provide their input, especially on material selection, to the wikihouse forums as wikihouse is a global effort that seeks input from all.

Jay I think that is really neat that you have a connection to Fukuoka, I really respect his approach to farming, and would love to come to one of your timber framing courses as I admire that skill set.

I think most of all what I like about wikihouse is its design approach of leveraging the global knowledge by seeking input from all and making that information freely available. If you feel like your viewpoint is not being represented then you must speak up and contribute to the democratic process that is wikihouse.

Jay you bring up some interesting points but I respectfully disagree with your analysis of the wikihouse project. I think we are running into differences in viewpoints on what Permaculture is in the same way that Sepp Holzer and Masanobu Fukuoka represent different viewpoints. Fukuoka advocates for "do nothing" farming and just lets nature take its course with minimal human interferrence while Holzer will be relatively harsh initially to set the groundwork for his projects by calling in heavy equipment to prep the land. I don't understand your comment that

I often pick from speakers, such as the gentleman speaking about Wiki House, a very "first world," Anglo concept of how things are, or should be.

because the wikihouse speaker contended that most of modern architecture is geared towards 2% or so of the worlds population and doesn't address the needs of the other 98% or so. Everyone needs a place to live and wikihouse represents a way to bring safe, reliable, economical housing to the masses while attempting to minimize environmental impact though a global conscious design effort. If wikihouse can achieve its goal of global cooperation then the design should not be based purely on

white European male culture

but rather the larger gloabl culture that exists. I respect your ability to build timber frame houses but that is most likely a trade you have been perfecting for many years and not something that is easily learned by a novice in a few days and may potentially require heavy machinery to lift the timbers. A home bulit the wikihouse way could potentially be built in a day or so and yes these homes may not last 100 years but they are so easy to make that its really not that big of an investment of time or resources. Geoff Lawton even uses prebuilt (factory) homes on his permaculture properties, he had a property for sale recently on geofflawton.com with such a building.

I wont debate the costs of materials with you as in reality nothing is "free", there is always a cost in terms of energy and resources, but if you harvest your own timber the economic cost is minimal. Also plywood is not the only material that can be used, its just what wikihouse is using during its development phase. Also I would contend that wikihouse is not a move away from craftsmanship but towards it... How many people actually build their own homes these days? Wikihouse embodies the spirit of the maker/craftsman/inventor/tinkerer communities and champions human ingenuity and cooperation.

You can find info on how to build your own CNC machines below, the cost will vary depending on how much you build it yourself or if you order a pre-made kit...

http://www.buildyourcnc.com/CNCMachineKits.aspx
http://www.buildyourcnc.com/blackFoot48v40.aspx

While our understandings of Permaculture may differ I believe that our love for this planet is the same. Thanks for keeping an open mind and actually watching the video!

Hey Jay I respect your opinion but I hold the viewpoint that the word "Permaculture" represents a design principle/design philosophy that advocates for conservation of resources and nature, recycling, ingenuity and working with nature instead of against her. The wikihouse project, in my opinion, emulates Permaculture design principles through and through by intentional use of simple, yet effective modular building techniques. . The same type of techniques we see used in Permaculture when organizing a plot of land into zones of access, the ultimate goal is to maximize gains and minimize losses. Also one of the main design tenants on the wikihouse website is to "Design for materials and components which are reasonably cheap to buy, low-carbon and fully recyclable or biodegradable". Wikihouse also promotes the communal and social aspects of Permaculture by putting the means of production in the hands of the individual or community and relying on the community to design, collaborate and create.

I can understand your reservations about the use of a CNC milling machine but it allows for accurate and cheap fabrication and reduces waste. You can make a CNC milling machine for about $500-$2500 and use it for the rest of your life. For the cost of wood (free if harvested on site) and your labor you could assemble a house over the course of a day or so. The skill level involved is minimal and would probably be about as complicated as a giant IKEA furniture set. Now you could cheaply make housing for your family, friends and community. Wikihouse is only in the developmental stages but there is so much potential for truly trans-formative thinking in the way that our homes are built, potentially by ourselves with the support of the wider community.

I urge you to watch the TED talk.

I did a quick search on Permies.com forums and could find no reference to this amazing project that has been featured on TED. The wikihouse project (http://www.wikihouse.cc/) aims to make an open source house that can be constructed in a day with plans freely available to anyone. Essentially, you can download the digital plans, send it to a CNC machine to cut the pieces out and then assemble it yourself with the help of 1 to 2 other people. I truly think that this project directly ties into the spirit of the permaculture community and wanted to bring awarness to it. Please check out the wikihouse website listed above and the TED talk as well to get inspired. Please respond with your thoughts...

http://www.ted.com/talks/alastair_parvin_architecture_for_the_people_by_the_people.html

Great thread! Has anyone checked out Tortoise Shell Homes http://www.tortoiseshellhome.com/index.html they make steel mini-mobile homes starting around $25K. They look pretty cool and are made out of steel so should last for a while...

Thanks James the general seed mix list is really great! I would consider the general seed mix a "lego block" to be used when designing a polyculture system. Now someone can take this "lego block" tweak it to their liking and pair it with others such as a vegetable block and a fruit block.

I am amazed at the responses lately and by how many other people seem to share a similar goal of making polyculture more accessible and to reduce the knowledge barriers of entry.

For what its worth, I have been reading "Sepp Holzer's Permaculture" and "The One Straw Revolution", these books seem to indicate two vastly different approaches to farming. Sepp Holzer's approach is very labor/machine intensive through the use of groundworks such as swales, ponds and terraces to lay the initial ground work for mother nature while Masanobu Fukuoka in "The One Straw Revolution" advocates a "do nothing" approach that he labels as "natural farming" which advocates working with the landscape at hand in much the same way our ancestors did. Even though these two approaches contrast each other in many regards they share similar ideals and methodologies about farming and both authors advocate the random sowing of seeds in an open field and then covering with mulch. Furthermore, both authors contend that plants will grow where they want to grow and not to focus too much on specific plant positions, you will have to experiment and see what works best on your land.

I am nearly convinced that the most practical method for "Lego"-izing polyculture lies within this approach and using a perennial seed mix of 20+ or so plants tailored to your specific region, you could even mix in some fruit tree seeds so that you would have some deep tap-rooted trees (transplants don't have taproots and are more susceptible to drought) if you were not in a rush to get a yield.

Dave and Juliet I am so pleased to learn about your efforts and that others are starting to stumble upon this post. The original goal of this post was to spark a conversation around "Lego"-izng polyculture so that even a child could plan a polyculture garden. Please let me know how I or others can contribute to your projects.

I have been out of town for a few days but want to keep the conversation going. Everyone's ideas and feedback have been great and have served to shape the direction of the idea of Lego-izing polyculture. There seems to be a few different directions that this post is moving towards.

One direction is for a simple infographic similar to the USDA "Plant Hardiness Zone" map.

Another solution suggested is the method that James Colbert put forth with creating a seed mix comprised of at least 3 different plants from each of the 4 categories listed below. The mixes would be tailored for dry, temperate and cold environments:

Biomass producers
Nitrogen fixers
Pest Management (Insect attracters/repelers)
Soil conditioners (looseners/nutrient minners)

And lastly a solution which is highly data driven and dependent on a extensive relational database to allow a user to input specifics about their plot and output a complete planting plan.

In my opinion all these possible solutions are equally valid and its great to see the creativity that everyone has put into this post. I think we should start small and branch out. Crawl, walk, run.

I really like the idea of combining James's 4 category method with a simple to use infographic and I will work towards this. I believe that I can create a map of the US shaded similar to the Plant Hardiness Zone map to denote dry, temperate and cold environments and then provide a list of appropriate seed mixes for that climate.

@James Colbert: James would you be willing to create the necessary prototype seed mixes for dry and cold climates? We already have the very detailed one you submitted for temperate climates.

As always please continue to post your great ideas and feedback as I think that collectively we can create something useful and wonderful.