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Napa Restaurant Owner Connects to Earth with Home Made of Soil
SF Chronicle: 04.12.08

4-17-chron1.jpgLast weekend's Chronicle included an article on a woman who made her house out of soil. Sandy Lawrence, the owner of vegetarian restaurant Ubuntu in Napa, built a 3,136-square foot house on 90 acres of land with a winery and gardens that supply the restaurant.

 
 
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Rammed Earth Works made the home of recycled materials -- and Lawrence's earth, which is mixed with cement and water "into temporarily erected boxes that, when removed, hold 18-inch-thick walls that require no painting or finishing, not to mention no Sheetrock."

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The home includes a pool, Buddha pond, meditation lawn, and yoga studio. It also has 33 doors. Oh, and caves were excavated to create garage space, a wine cellar, and guest quarters. Lawrence says, "I wanted to live outdoors and I wanted to have a simple lifestyle." Hmm, one person's simplicity...


Click here for Susan Fornoff's article.

Images: Eric Luse

Originally posted by Leslie on AT:SF.

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rammed earth, pise

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Comments (1)

all nice and "green" but does the house NEED to be 3000 sq ft?
who needs THAT much space? does she have 12 children or something? it's still a McMansion....

posted by chris_94131 on April 22nd 2008 at 6:47am
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