In the right landscape, these might just be one of the smar test ways to build a house. The word “yaodong” literally means “house-cave”. And you can see why. Yaodongs are human sized “burrows”! Traditionally farmers’ houses, originally yaodongs were built underground, either by car ving shallow caves into the sides of clif fs or hills, or by digging down into the ground, to create a cour tyard, and then digging into the walls of the cour tyard to create the houses.Yaodongs are fully insulated by the ground, and are some of
the most energy ef ficient houses that it is possible to build and live in. They stay lovely and cool in the summer, and ver y cozy and warm in the winter. They also don’t require much in the way of building materials, and people don’t need to clear or sacrifice much land or cut down any trees to make space for them.Archaeologists have traced the origins of the yaodong
back as far as 18,000 years to the Stone Age, when people used wooden frames to stabilise natural ear th caves to use as houses. It is estimated that more than 40 million people still live in yaodongs in China today.Modern architects all over the world are now building
incredible, modern, and highly energy ef ficient homes using yaodong principles, for people who want to live comfor table but more sustainable lives.Yur ts are mobile homes that have been used in Central Asia for thousands of years and are still used today. In Mongolia, they are known as “gers”. They are made of animal skin and wood, and can be dismantled easily when it is time for their inhabitants to move on, leaving little or no trace that there was ever a structure there.
These beautiful dwellings are circular structures, built around
wooden frames that are covered with three or four layers of woolen felt and an outer layer of waterproof canvas. They are ver y strong and can stand withstand strong winds.Traditional yur ts can be kept ver y warm in the winter when
temperatures drop below minus 30 degrees centigrade, and can be kept cool and breezy in the summer when the temperatures are r ising.GOING GREEN!