The Open Building Institute has launched a Kickstarter to design open source, eco-friendly houses.

We’re developing an open source eco-building toolkit to make the construction of ecological housing easier, cheaper, faster—and put it within the reach of everyone.

The OBI toolkit is entirely open source—free to use and modify—and will enable anyone to:

Design a house and/or greenhouse—that respects the planet and can be expanded as your needs and family grow—using a library of modules that fit together like building blocks

Learn how to build with instructionals and training programs

Organize the rapid-build of a house loaded with ecological features

Experimental modular farmhouse (1300 sq ft) with attached greenhouse (800 sq ft) - Factor e Farm (Missouri, US) - Built incrementally between Oct 2013 and Nov 2015 (click for more info)

Through a series of experimental builds over the past few years, we learned that it is possible to construct a 700 sq ft modular starter home—with an attached aquaponic greenhouse and loaded with ecological features—for under $25k in materials and in as little as 5 days.

Tiny CEB house with tiny greenhouse and solar roof - Factor e Farm (Missouri, US) - Built in 2014

Topics