Ecovillage Design

The Findhorn Way

The Findhorn settlement was founded in the early sixties in Scotland. Over the past fifty years, the settlement has developed into a living community that utilizes soft and hard technologies to enhance human well-being. Rather than developing ways to minimize the settlements ecological impact, the members of Findhorn sought to collaborate with nature to create a way of living best suited to their needs and the environment’s. One of The Findhorn community’s greatest contributions has been their innovation in creating human dwellings. They have constructed 45 buildings that are ecologically responsible and architecturally interesting. With green building rating systems becoming commonplace, such as LEED here in the states, more people are aware of the prospect of ecologically responsible building. Fifty years ago, for the Findhorn community, an ecologically responsible building was not just a prospect, but necessary. Adding to the challenge, the community members of Findhorn needed to create ecologically sound human-loved structures without the aid of heavy construction equipment. They not only succeeded but they literally wrote the book, the first book, a technical guide, on how to self-build ecologically respectful timber frame houses.