Category Archives: Natural Building

Why material choice becomes more important when building energy efficient homes.

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Hajo Meijer

About a month ago I attended the Passive House Conference in Vancouver where Chris Magwood from the Endeavor Centre presented his research on the impact of materials choice in the building of a Passive House (or any other super insulated … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural Building, Passive House, Sustainable Building, Uncategorized, Zero-Energy | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Why material choice becomes more important when building energy efficient homes.

Building Passive House with Natural Materials

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Hajo Meijer

Recently I had the pleasure to see Bjørn Kierulf of Createrra Architects in Slovakia, give a presentation at BUILDEX Vancouver, about Passive Houses built with natural materials. Natural Passive House Driven by the desire to build Passive Houses as natural as possible, … Continue reading →

Posted in Natural Building, Passive House | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Power Generating Gym

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Hajo Meijer

Recently I designed this Gym for a couple of professional athletes that had moved from Calgary, where they lived around the corner of one the biggest work-out centres in North America, to Kaslo (pop. 1000) with only one small fitness centre – and it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Passive Solar Design, Renderings, Solar Design, Solar Energy, Timber Framing | Leave a comment

Post & Beam Barn = Climbing Wall 2

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Hajo Meijer

Rob Wilkes has added some more braces to the barn… and then a climbing wall! Great idea to add some fun to this working building! Again, my thanks to Sarah Evans for taking and sharing these pictures!

Posted in Local building materials, Log Barn, Log building | 1 Comment

Post & Beam Barn II

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Hajo Meijer

Nine foot knee braces, eight inch diameter. Tight joinery.

Posted in Local building materials, Log Barn, Log building, Natural Building, Projects, Timber Framing | 2 Comments

Post & Beam Barn

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Hajo Meijer

Rob Wilkes is doing a nice job building this log post and beam barn! About a year ago I helped him design the structure and since then he has been working on it in his spare time. He selectively harvested trees … Continue reading →

Posted in Local building materials, Log Barn, Log building, Natural Building, Timber Framing | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

A Pattern Language of Natural Homes

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Hajo Meijer

Natural Homes is putting together a picture gallery illustrating the various design patterns from ‘A Pattern Language’ by Christopher Alexander (et all). Mouse over the pictures to see which pattern the picture illustrates and click to see the picture on … Continue reading →

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Hay Bales vs Straw Bales

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Hajo Meijer

A prospective client with whom I have been talking about using straw bales to construct a little cabin to cut costs, asked me if she could use haybales instead. She owns a farm and can make haybales herself. I didn’t … Continue reading →

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