Massey Burke – författare

The Complete Guide to Safe, Durable, and Beautiful Cob BuildingsPart of the Sustainable Building Essentials series, Essential Cob Construction delivers the most up-to-date design, engineering, and building guidance for one of the world's most enduring and expressive natural materials: cob. Learn how to build structurally sound, comfortable, low-carbon homes using clay, sand, and straw—with full support for permitting and modern building science.What You'll Learn Strong, Code-informed Cob Walls: Modern engineering and extensive testing ensure resilient structures with reliable fire and seismic performance.Healthy, Low-carbon Construction: Cob uses natural, minimally processed materials for a dramatically reduced environmental footprint.Thermal Comfort and Moisture Management: Properly designed cob walls regulate humidity, buffer temperature swings, and support healthy indoor air.Beautiful Sculptural Design Possibilities: Create curved forms, niches, and expressive details unique to hand-shaped, site-made architecture.Hands-on Building Mastery: Mix design, testing, manual/mechanical mixing, wall building, foundations, connections, finishes, and more.Permits, Codes and Budgeting: Navigate the new Cob Construction Appendix, plan projects efficiently, and ensure smooth approval processes.Written by leading experts Anthony Dente, PE, Michael G. Smith, and Massey Burke, this book combines rigorous engineering, building science, and decades of hands-on natural building experience. Whether you're a designer, engineer, contractor, or owner-builder, this guide provides the essential knowledge needed to build safe, durable, and climate-positive cob structures.Explore the full Sustainable Building Essentials series for practical, illustrated guidance on natural materials, high-performance envelopes, and sustainable building systems.

Setting the standard for modern cob construction – from design, engineering, and building code compliance, to sculpting beautiful structures

Cob – a mix of clay, sand, and straw – is one of the most popular and well-known natural building methods. Yet cob is often difficult to permit and can be used in inappropriate ways due to a lack of sound engineering and design information. Recent research and a newly developed building code promise to make cob building more accessible than ever.

Essential Cob Construction sets the new standard for cob construction. Incorporating rigorous, up-to-date engineering and building science and decades of practical lessons learned, coverage includes:

Appropriate use of cob in different climates and contextsThermal performance and moisture managementStructural and architectural design considerations, including fire and earthquake resistance data from extensive laboratory testingHands-on cob construction, including mix design, testing, manual and mechanical mixing, wall building, strong connections with foundations, roofs, and other structural elements, and finishing optionsBuilding code development and the permitting process for cobPlanning, budgeting, and quality controlThe complete Cob Construction Appendix of the International Residential Code.

Essential Cob Construction is required reading for engineers, architects, designers, contractors, and owner-builders working with this ancient, aesthetically pleasing, low-carbon building material.