The Hand-Sculpted House
A Practical And Philosophical Guide To Building A Cob Cottage

This luminous and inspiring book describes the art of constructing simple houses with cob.

Cob is a mixture of sand, clay, and straw. It has been used to build houses for hundreds of years, even in rainy climates such as England. (Those picturesque 500-year-old thatched cottages in Devon? The walls are made of cob.) Cob houses can be built by anyone, and they can be built with sculptural curves that do not require the expertise and tools needed to create straight lines and flat surfaces. It's even possible to embed window glass directly in the wall, carve the wall out when replacing the glass, and reculpt around the new glass.

The Hand-Sculpted House is more than just a construction manual, though. It speaks of the art of design, crafting the house to fit you and your activities like a glove, and integrating it into the landscape.

It stresses the need to observe your site during all the seasons, to see where sunlight falls and air and water flow. It speaks of the art of the small, creating spaces adapted to the size of your body, the reach of your arms, and the motions you make when doing things. Why should we pay for all that space in the upper corners of our rooms when we can't even reach it? It speaks of the view window, a small eye-level window aimed at a special sight: a lawn, a horizon, flowers, a stream. It describes curvaceous houses that have welcoming nooks and lofts and bay windows, houses that integrate with their gardens and snuggle into the landscape.

The book has photographs, some in colour, and many friendly uncomplicated illustrations.

It's the most inspirational architecure book I've read since the original Earthship books.