Beginning in 1992 with the Sustainable Building Coalition, from which Design~Build~Live evolved, we have been involved in a variety of natural building and sustainable living activities. The range of our work includes:
Monthly Presentations
With only occasional interruption, we have conducted monthly presentations on a variety of sustainable living and building topics since 1992. These have always been free and open to the public. Past presentation topics and more details can be found at Monthly Presentations.
Site visit - FoodWaterShelter
Site Visits
Our site visits are generally designed to complement the topic of a recent monthly presentation. We have toured rainwater harvesting systems, straw bale homes, permaculture landscapes and much more. More details on our Site Visits page.
Classes & Workshops
One of Design~Build~Live’s primary objectives is to offer more and more classes and hands-on workshops. Some of our past topics include: Earth plaster, straw bale walls, working with juniper roundwood, cob construction, introduction to natural building, and earthen floors. More on classes and workshops on our Classes and Workshops page.
Roundwood pavillion built during the Natural Building Colloquium
Special Events
DBL special events have taken the form of presentations and/or tabling at events conducted by others, natural building demonstrations, and annual holiday parties. We co-organized the very successful 2007 Natural Building Colloquium of Texas. An array of events are described on the Special Events page.
Programs & Projects
We have completed community building projects such as the straw bale and cob garden wall at Casa de Luz in Austin, Texas, and the light clay birding shelter at the Center for Environmental Research outside of town at Hornsby Bend. Our new goal is to complete one community project each year. See Programs & Projects for more.
Long-range Goals & Plans
We are currently laying the groundwork for some of our most ambitious plans: the construction of a sustainable learning center and adjoining demonstration village. Our goal is to make natural building and sustainable living visible, visitible, touchable, real and achievable. More details can be found on the Goals & Plans page.
