Uncommon Good’s Whole Earth Building (WEB) is a first-of-its-kind-in-the-world green building. It was constructed by hand, using little more than on-site earth, by crews that included hundreds of community volunteers, from young children to elders. Since its opening on Earth Day in 2013, it has had visitors from every continent who have come to learn how to create beautiful comfortable buildings that can withstand natural disasters including earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding, and fire.
WEB is the first commercial earthbag building. That means that it was built by filling sandbags with earth and stacking them to create the walls. The ceilings are also made of earth.
WEB is on the property that is the exact location where the first people settled in this region as long as 15,000 years ago. As a result, Uncommon Good partnered with the local Tongva Tribe, who are the descendants of the original inhabitants, to tell the story of the tribe’s history on the land. Artist Sheila Pinkel created artwork for the building which tells the Tongva story.
WEB is completely solar powered and incorporates many fascinating ecologically friendly features.
