ABOUT

Building Baladi aims to bring Natural Building back into the mainstream in Lebanon through Education, Design & Building. We build on the rich traditions from the region, where building with earth, stone & wood used to be the norm and then merge these with modern techniques and designs to produce attractive, durable and energy efficient buildings that are both ecologically friendly and low-cost

WHAT IS NATURAL BUILDING?

Also known as Eco, Green or Bio-based Building or Construction, we use 4 aspirational principles to help guide our approach:
- Natural - Using materials with a minimum of industrial processing (i.e. as close to their natural form) and techniques that are as manual & using as little machinery as possible
- Local - Using materials from as close to the build site as possible, and techniques related to the local traditional architecture. When paying for materials or labour, aiming to support local industries, businesses & economy in general
- Healthy - For humans, both physically and psychologically, both builders & end-users. Also for the local and global ecosystems
- Accessible - Buildings that are affordable to build and run (energy efficient) and use techniques that can be easily learned and practiced by people with a wide range of physical abilities & backgrounds

BALADI?

The term Baladi, meaning from the area or country, is usually used in Lebanon for food that is Local or home-made, Healthy, Traditional & Natural. We aim to apply these same principles in how we design and build. For both food and natural building, such approaches were the norm just a few generations ago

BEGINNINGS

Building Baladi was started in 2019 by Robert Malies, originally from the UK, with a background in civil engineering, humanitarian work and public health. He started designing and constructing with local earth, stone and wood in the Westwood Valley Zahle resort to create an Eco-Village to provide visitors a chance to learn and experience a healthier and more mindful way of living Since 2023 we started teaching these building methods on-site and the concept of The Natural Building School was born. In addition to our own construction projects we now help others to design and build their own homes or other buildings in the Zahle area and throughout Lebanon and are in discussion with schools and Universities to include some of our theory and practice in their curriculums

TEAM

The Eco-Village team consists of Lebanese and international volunteers (around 50 per year) working alongside a young permanent local staff
The Design team consists of…

Robert Malies Robert, has a background in structural engineering in Europe and Humanitarian work in Africa and has designed, built and advised on a variety of Natural Building projects around Lebanon since 2019 when he started getting his hands dirty and began Building Baladi. He is mainly based in Zahle, where he is running and continuing to develop the Eco-Village and Natural Building School with the help of volunteers. He has Masters degrees in Civil Engineering & Public Health.
Reem Hilal Reem is an architect based in Lebanon, with a passion for natural materials, and working with what is available around us. She believes we are nature, and should work, as a community, on redesigning our everyday food system, objects, and shelters to embody that. That’s how “Hearth” was established, which combines Earth, Art, and Heart to design and construction. Reem joined Building Baladi in 2023.
Mohamad Mortada After completing his Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture in 2015, from the Lebanese American University, Mohamad began working at EcoConsulting as a Sustainable Design Architect in 2016. He specializes in sustainable design and green building certifications, with over eight years of practical experience in the field. Since college, Mohamad took an interest in earth architecture and natural building materials which led him to make bricks and later join Building Baladi. He attended several earth building and plastering workshops to develop his skills and did an internship at arcenciel designing mudbrick animal keeps and landscape. Mohamad also likes to draw, play and create board and video games. He is currently working on assembling a new type of tricycle stemming from his interest in human-powered devices and machines.

WHY NATURAL BUILDING

Lebanon has a rich history building with local and natural materials and although earth houses were traditionally associated with the poor, recent advancements in building science from Europe & North America, combined with new design concepts and technology, is changing attitudes towards this clay-based material. Thus we are seeing the vernacular architecture of the region’s poor, sun-dried clay bricks, being transformed into modern buildings possessing not only superior ecological credentials to concrete and steel, but also advantageous thermal performance, comfort and aesthetics.

Dug from the site itself or nearby, with no industrial input, earth offers an extremely low environmental impact. Combined with techniques such as passive-solar design and highly-insulative natural fibres (such as wheat straw) the result is an energy-efficient building with a carbon footprint that can even go below zero-carbon. As the old Lebanese saying goes, “an earth house stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer”. With adequately designed roofs and foundations and periodic maintenance, an earth walled building provides a strong and durable structure that can last centuries, as seen all over Europe and the Middle-East. These natural materials are generally also much healthier to work with and live in than the modern norm, with no toxic or harmful chemicals or residues and provide a ‘breathable’ space that automatically regulates humidity, avoiding damp issues. Amidst an economic crisis, solutions that rely on local labour, local materials, low-fuel costs and easy-to-learn techniques are in dire need and Natural Building guides us towards a more democratic, sustainable alternative.

For a country increasingly disconnected from nature and its roots, the team hope to provide ways to learn and experience a healthier and more mindful way of living and re-awaken an appreciation for those local, natural ‘baladi’ ways of life that not only have low ecological impact but provide a level of psychological wellbeing and aesthetic that modern concrete cubes so severely lack.