The work of a few earthen home architects is cracking building code barriers in Southern California. There are boiling summers, freezing winters, howling winds, flash floods and lots of earthquakes. If it doesn't break here, it doesn't break anywhere. With a cement pump, bags can be filled at a rate of 10 to 15 feet a minute.
Barbed wire is placed between layers of the bag to keep it from sliding out of position.
The completed walls are finished with mud plaster and painted white with a nontoxic mixture of milk and linseed oil. Some look like upside-down teacups or igloos. The earth walls insulate the home from outside temperatures. The original emphasis of Khalili's work was low-cost housing solutions for impoverished parts of the world. I need a mortgage company.