I was hanging out on http://www.tinyhouseliving.com perusing house ideas and I thought to myself: “A small cabin built with the stick/frame method is still a house built with the stick/frame method.” Since I was about 14 I’ve had this idea that next gen houses need to be different if we are to survive as a species. To me this meant working harmoniously with nature instead of taming, cutting, and moving her aside for our purposes. Don’t get me wrong, I am still super excited about starting my adventures in tiny house living, but even this falls short of my 14 year old “circle of life and nature” ideal that I had and still have.
Enter Suzanne Lee, or for your benefit here is a TED talk on her bacteria grown clothes: http://www.ted.com/talks/suzanne_lee_grow_your_own_clothes?language=en .
Turns out that cellulose is a great insulator, she even says that she dreams of growing cars and things! House gen next here we come!
Here is an idea developed by MIT almost 10 years ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fab_Tree_Hab I don’t know what progress they’ve had in 10 years, I’ve been busy doing my own thing.
Personally I’m going to study plant galls for a while, maybe we could just ask trees to grow a house for us.