Home Alive - The House that Thinks, Drinks & Breathes

09/22/2017

Home Alive once opened its doors to tens of thousands of people, when on temporary display as part of the National Home Show in Toronto (2003). This weekend see some of Home Alive's contemporaries during the annual Ontario Natural Building Coalition open house tour.

10/25/2016

Some 13 years after Home Alive! became the first ever panelized straw bale house comprising of many dozens of parts), now we have designed and crafted the first modular straw bale home (delivered in just two, prefabricated modules).

Watch for more, including our first Tiny Home in the near future!

09/29/2016

Looking for some engaging edu-tainment this weekend. Or maybe you are just a wee bit eco-voyeuristic. Here is a chance to pull back the curtains and peek inside to see how the natural half live. ;-)

Visit as many naturally built buildings as you can over six hours, all across Ontario. This Sunday Oct 2, 10AM-4PM. Enjoy!

http://www.naturalbuildingcoalition.ca/page-1701445

03/18/2016

Anyone recall the earlier home that Harrowsmith sponsored in 2003 as referenced in this article from earlier this winter? Indeed, that was Home Alive!

http://www.harrowsmithalmanac.com/straw-bale-comes-in-from-the-country/

12/18/2015

Want to see another house constructeed with prefabricated strawbale walls? While the original manufacture (unrelated to us) is now defunct, here is a house we recently completed in which we tried them again.

http://www.treehugger.com/slideshows/green-architecture/stunning-modern-house-made-straw-bale/ -2412788116

Nicholas Koff makes it bright and modern inside and out.

07/15/2015

Interested in seeing the evolution of prefabricated strawbale buildings? Check out this video of completed building modules recently shipped from Ontario by Home Alive builder's parent biz, Evolve Builders Group to the Pinoleville Pomo First Nation in northern California.

Interest piqued? Check out mobEE's FB page for a slideshow demonstrating the same pieces being unloaded and placed, soon to be ready to accept its first classes of preschoolers!

03/26/2015

Know someone keen on entering the green building industry. How about a skilled tradesperson who laments the poor quality and material selections applied to the projects on which they ordinarily work. Seeking good people for great work. Please circulate widely!

Three new green building jobs are now open to highly motivated, inspired, progressive, individuals to pursue or further their career.

03/26/2015

Home Alive's roof produces power, collects water for all domestic uses (drinking, showering, washwater) and for irrigation, and has a small green roof too. Imagine a day when these functions and more are a requirement rather than out-of-the-ordinary. In France, this will soon be so.

All new buildings in commercial zones across the country must comply with new environmental legislation

03/24/2015

Want to talk sticks and stones? How about straw and mud.
Ok what if they become strawbale walls, adobe floors and earthen cook ovens?!

Come chat with the Evolve & Harvest Homes team and other pros from around Ontario. Stay for the formal presentations, engage in the discussions or just hang out at this inspiring annual event hosted by the Ontario Natural Building Coalition.

http://fermata.ca/news/item/ontario-natural-building-coalition-gathering-march-28-29/

Fermata invites all those interested in cob ovens, earthen floors & adobe to join for the Ontario Natural Building Coalition AGM & Conference March 28 & 29

03/19/2015

Wanting to talk about healthy building materials such as those used at Home Alive? Environmental concerns? Maybe energy efficiency. Come to Transition Guelph Resilience Festival's eco-market for a host of ideas and discussions.
http://evolvebuilders.ca/blog/news/item/eco-reno-talks-at-guelph-resilience-festival/

Evolve founder Ben Polley is an invited speaker at two upcoming Guelph Resilience Festival talks

03/16/2015

Home Alive isn't off-grid...instead it uses the grid as its "battery," drawing electricity when PVs and wind turbine together aren't sufficient and delivering its surplus to the grid when these renewables are more than the house requires. This was intended to further permit the eventual inclusion of a residential scaled fuel-cell, given that such technology seemed imminent when HA! was conceived in early 2002.

Now more than a decade on, here is a different look at a prospective near future. Here is hoping that it succeeds where fuel-cells have to date not.

Ever wish you could ditch your electric bill? Tesla is working on a house battery that could help you break up with your expensive utility company, essentially turning any home into an off-grid abode. Before you know it, a home in the suburbs could even generate

02/19/2015

Home Alive redux! For all who participated in the magical making of Home Alive!
you will certainly recall how it first was built fully standing within the tight confines of a Guelph warehouse before being dismantled and shipped to TO for the National Home Show. Be sure to like our page at mobEE and see how we do it today, 10+ years hence: watch a three classroom, two bathroom modular strawbale classroom take shape then ship across the continent to Pinoleville Pomo Nation, in northern California.

We are getting down to the finishing touches. See the popular truth window (a viewing window that reveals the inner makings of the strawbale walls) take shape and the reinforced plaster being applied. We will be craning the modules on to a fleet of tractor trailers for delivery soon - June 10. Stay tuned for final images and an invite to watch us upload pics of the action live that same day!