EMPOWERED WOMEN OF THE SUSTAINABLE HOUSE MOVEMENT

Kotchakorn Voraakhom

Women have always been at the forefront of making the world a better place. It is no different when it comes to the sustainable house movement.

While most sustainable house designs are spearheaded by the male population, from architects to sustainable experts, there are several empowered women who have made it their mission to create sustainable homes.

Notable Women for Sustainable Housing

Meet the women who are making significant changes in the field of sustainable house designs:

  • Kotchakorn Voraakhom

Kotchakorn Voraakhom is a well-known landscape architecture from Thailand for her groundbreaking works in sustainable architecture practices in her native country. Her work is focused on designing sustainable public places that address the issues of climate change especially in highly populated areas and at-risk communities.

  • Elora Hardy

Ibuku’s founder and creative head, Elora works with her team to create a sustainable building using bamboo. Elora together with her team is promoting bamboo’s potential by building one bamboo structure at a time. Elora was a successful career woman in New York before she decided to leave everything behind and establish a home in Bali.

  • Clare Kenny

A natural builder, Kenny makes houses using upcycled, salvaged, and natural materials with the help of Mudgirls collective, which she is a part of. Together with this all-women group, she builds homes counting on resourcefulness.

  • Tatiana Bilbao

This Mexican architect has made a mark with her Sustainable Housing Model. Her career’s work creating affordable sustainable house designs has earned her a special awards at the 2017 A+ Awards. One of her greatest contributions to the sustainable housing movement was to create a highly-efficient and affordable, approximately around $8,000, home that can be easily modified.

  • Neelam Manjunath, Trupti Doshi, Revathi Kamath

Finishing off this list are three amazing women who advocates for a more conscious architectural approach.

Neelam Manjunath is best known for House of Five Elements. A home in Bangalore she designed that is known as a zero-energy home.

Trupti Doshi built Sharanam, an entire building made from unfired earth bricks. The building is recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme as an exemplary prototype of a sustainable architecture in India.

Revathi Kamath walks her talk when it comes to the sustainable home movement as her mud house is a model of sustainability. Some of her most notable works in the sustainability realm include The Desert Resort and the Tower House, which has received numerous awards.

The Future of Sustainable Home

The demand for sustainable home designs is continuously on the rise. Beyond helping fight climate change, sustainable homes are proving to be great investments for a family.

Today more than ever, there are a lot of options available for homeowners looking to own a sustainable home. Here are a few home designs you can look into:

  • Tiny homes – measuring 186 square feet on average, tiny homes are earth friendly, mobile, and economical because of its size.
  • Prefabricated homes – a prefabricated home is assembled on the spot where you want it, reducing significant construction time and requiring less manpower and construction materials and waste.
  • Unika Stenhus – Swedish architecture firm Unika Stenhus designs unique sustainable homes that are earth-friendly, flexible, and well-oriented with nature. These unique home designs are popular in Sweden as it does not only promote sustainable living, but it’s a home with features well ahead of its time.

These women are agents of change by finding ingenious ways to create homes that are help mitigate the alarming impact of climate change. There is a growing voice among women to further this cause, and it’s time that women should take leadership and call for action on this pressing issue!

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Michelle Herrera Mulligan

Founding Editor-in-Chief, Cosmo for Latinas Magazine Michelle Herrera Mulligan’s Story Michelle Herrera Mulligan is a writer and editor with 20 years of experience. Her essays and