Natural Building and Bioconstruction – Sustainable Construction in Brazil

SUSTAINABLE & MODERN CONSTRUCTION

Natural Building – Bioconstruction - Sustainable Construction

Eco Caminhos has been constructing with natural building (bioconstruction) techniques since 2015. Using natural and recycled materials, we combine ancient sustainable techniques with modern design and technology. Our natural building houses preserve the planet while providing its users with a lot of comforts. The designs are energy neutral, use natural wastewater treatment, “breathe” better, and are incredibly integrated into the natural landscape.

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Incredible Designs

Eco Caminhos has a qualified team specialized in bioconstruction. In addition to an excellent execution, we offer an interior architecture project, with a realistic and modern 3D image. With the design of the electronic mockup, our customers can have a better idea of how their home will look, with attention to detail, inside and out. This guarantees a more assertive project, avoiding waste and wasting time, thus reducing the cost of the work and, of course, increasing customer satisfaction.

The Engineering

Our priority is to provide an excellent user experience, using sunlight and climate control for comfortable living. In South America, natural building still has the reputation of being a primitive technique since many people, lacking the skills and resources, often make improvised (bio)constructions. Luckily, this is changing as bioconstruction is gradually becoming recognized as a legitimate and modern technique that combines sustainability with high comfort.

Green Roof

A green roof is beautiful and also creates more space for leisure – or even agriculture – on top of your own home. You’ll reduce your energy consumption as well since It acts as an excellent thermal insulator. A green roof also absorbs noises better, purifies the air, lessens the effects of air pollution, absorbs rainwater which can be reused, and supports native flora and fauna, leaving your house more integrated with nature. On top of this, green roofs are actually more durable and require less maintenance than conventional roofs!

Cob Walls

Compared to conventional materials such as brick, cement, and drywall, cob is much more comfortable, healthy, and economical as the walls offer excellent temperature regulation through thermal mass (reducing the need for heating and cooling), keep the humidity low since the walls “breathe,” absorb sounds better, and are much stronger – literally bulletproof. Cob, if properly taken care of, can last thousands of years and is also a very malleable material, allowing for more creativity and freedom in your design.

Natural Finishes

We make our own finishes sustainably, using locally sourced natural materials. With a variety of color options to choose from, these unique finishes are perfect for your cob walls as they don’t cut off any circulation, allowing your walls to continue “breathing” unlike with oil paints or stucco and cement finishes, for example.

Beautiful Woodwork

As a renewable resource, wood is fundamental to the construction of our eco-friendly homes. We specialize in a variety of techniques, styles, and types of wood – from hardwoods to recycled and even reused woods like railroad ties. More than just beauty, reclaimed wood also brings your home a story to tell!

Energy Neutrality

To achieve carbon and energy neutrality for your home, we start with the design, positioning your home and windows such as to take advantage of natural light and air currents. The structure itself is also built to be eco-friendly through the use of cob, insulated floors, and green roofs, which all help to reduce energy consumption through temperature and humidity control. Additionally, we can implement technologies such as solar panels, double-paned windows, solar heaters, and floor heating/cooling systems that will help keep you and the planet comfortable.

Fully Customizable

One of the greatest but least-talked about aspects of natural building is that there is much more diversity in design. You aren’t limited to just straight walls and ninety-degree angles, even though you can do that, too. You can make all sorts of creative shapes for everything from walls to windows to ceilings. If you want, you can have a domed roof, a circular room, or a window with more than four edges – why not?

Stone Foundation

Despite being one of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions worldwide, cement is still commonly used to build foundations. With our qualified team, your foundation can be made of natural locally-sourced stones. Stone lasts much longer than conventional cement foundations and, requiring no maintenance, does not crack or deteriorate over time like cement does – just look at all the surviving ruins made of stone from ancient civilizations thousands of years ago! We also use expanded clay to prevent moisture infiltration and to insulate the floor. Of course, if necessary, we can also use cement for a foundation

Natural & Sustainable Materials

We believe it is important to use natural and locally sourced materials as much as possible in order to create a more sustainable future. Better yet, we try to use materials that, after use, can be returned to Mother Nature without negatively impacting the environment. That’s why we use stone for foundations, wood for structures and windows and doors, and cob (see what it’s made of) for our walls. Other details and finishes are made with various materials ranging from lime to natural resins and pigments to even cow manure! Don’t worry, it doesn’t stink!

 

Our Skills 

We count on our team with a wide range of skills and experience with:

  • Architecture: We have an experienced natural building architect on our team
  • Project Management: We have over 15 years of experience in project management
  • Construction: Our team is made up of experienced natural building constructors 
  • Cob: A construction material made up of clay, sand, straw, and water.
  • Wattle & Daub: A construction method used to make walls and buildings in which a lattice of bamboo strips is filled with cob.
  • Green Roof: green roofs are not only very beautiful, they are excellent for thermal insulation
  • Natural wastewater treatment: we use banana circle for gray wastewater filtration and evapotranspiration basin for blackwater.
  • Solar Heater: We use a solar heater to heat water
  • Double glazing: In European countries it is not very uncommon, but in Brazil it is rare
  • Drainage: We have a drainage system under the stone foundation of the buildings
  • Floor insulation: We use expanded clay to prevent moisture infiltration and to insulate the floor
  • Positioning the house in relation to the sun: For a healthy indoor environment, the direction of the house is very important. With very humid summers and cold winters, positioning the house towards the sun (north) is essential.

 

Do you need a bioconstruction consultancy or are you looking for someone to build your house?

Keep in mind that we take biobuilding very seriously and that we believe that building a house can only become possible if all the parts are aligned. Bioconstruction is a technique that requires a lot of time and requires a highly qualified and motivated team. We want to deliver a product that is more sustainable, resistant, healthier and much better looking than most conventional homes. However, we are looking for clients who offer a fair offer to our team. If you are considering hiring us for consultancy or for the construction of your house, here is an example of how we arrived at the desired result:

Step 1: Understand the needs – Understand the customer’s needs: In a first conversation (online or in person) we try to understand what the customer is looking for

Step 2: Proposal – If there is a consensus, we will prepare a first proposal for you.

Step 3: Design – If we reach an agreement, we will start preparing preliminary bioconstruction designs.

Step 4: Preparation – In this phase, we prepare a project plan with different phases of execution.

Step 5: Execution – this is when the build/implementation starts.

Stage 5: Evaluation – When delivering the project, we like to evaluate the process and the final result with the client.

 

Contact Us

You can contact us and we will quickly respond as soon as possible!

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Volunteering

For people who wish to learn skills and abilities in natural building, we have different volunteering programs available.

Apply as a Volunteer Here