Lowtech Graph lists low-tech options for every need of a home. Here you can compare them, find tutorials to build them, and link them together into a circular system. Why low-tech?
Roundhouse (round timber frame with a reciprocal roof)
Passive · New build only
One of 9 ways to meet this need. Cost, carbon, footprint and rankings are relative to other solutions for the same need, not absolute.
What your site needs
Timber and a wall material available locally, and a build that keeps the posts out of wet ground.
A round building on a ring of timber posts, with walls of straw, cob or logs and a roof where each rafter rests on the next, so no central post is needed. A circle gives the most floor for the least wall, and stands up well to wind. Built from local materials, one Welsh roundhouse cost about £3,000.
Build it
No build tutorial recorded yet.
Cost
Low
Upkeep
Occasional
Skill to build
Intermediate
Lifespan
Twenty years and more for Tony Wrench's roundhouse, with buried post ends replaced by stone along the way (Lowimpact.org interview, 2016); posts on stone pads rather than in the ground last longer.
Embodied carbon
Low
Space / material use
Medium
Output timing
None
Skill to repair
Basic
Regulation (FR example)
Size decides the formality. A construction of 5 m² or less of footprint and floor area needs none (Code de l'urbanisme, art. R421-2); one over 5 m² and up to 20 m² needs a déclaration préalable (art. R421-9); anything larger needs a permis de construire (art. R*421-1). The commune's PLU zoning still applies: outside a constructible zone, a new dwelling is generally refused.
Levels are relative to the other options for this need, not absolute. Fewer dots is lighter.
Roundhouse (round timber frame with a reciprocal roof) (This page) Can I use it? Not in a flat · New build only What does it cost me? Upfront cost: Low · Skill to build: Intermediate · Upkeep: Light · Change to daily life: Occasional · Works without the grid: Yes Choose it if you want a round home from local timber, straw or cob, with a roof that needs no central post.
Compact rectangular footprint Can I use it? Not in a flat · New build only What does it cost me? Upfront cost: Low · Skill to build: None · Upkeep: None · Change to daily life: None · Works without the grid: Yes Choose it if you want the cheapest house to build and to heat for its floor area.
Vault or dome shell (walls and roof in one) Can I use it? Not in a flat · New build only What does it cost me? Upfront cost: Low · Skill to build: Intermediate · Upkeep: Light · Change to daily life: Occasional · Works without the grid: Yes Choose it if you want a whole building in earth, with no timber or metal needed for the roof.
Kerterre (small hand-sculpted hemp-lime building) Can I use it? Not in a flat · New build only What does it cost me? Upfront cost: Low · Skill to build: Intermediate · Upkeep: Light · Change to daily life: Way of living · Works without the grid: Yes Choose it if you want to build small rooms or a shed by hand, cheaply, with no frame and no moulds.
A-frame house Can I use it? Not in a flat · New build only What does it cost me? Upfront cost: Low · Skill to build: Intermediate · Upkeep: Light · Change to daily life: Occasional · Works without the grid: Yes Choose it if you want a simple form you can build from a kit, that sheds snow easily.
Geodesic dome Can I use it? Not in a flat · New build only What does it cost me? Upfront cost: Medium · Skill to build: Intermediate · Upkeep: Regular · Change to daily life: Occasional · Works without the grid: Yes Choose it if you want a light, strong shell built from short timbers that are easy to handle.
Earth-bermed house (earth banked against the walls) Can I use it? Not in a flat · New build only What does it cost me? Upfront cost: Medium · Skill to build: Intermediate · Upkeep: Light · Change to daily life: None · Works without the grid: Yes Choose it if you want far less heating without digging the house into the ground.
Yurt (round lattice-frame dwelling) Can I use it? Not in a flat · New build only What does it cost me? Upfront cost: Low · Skill to build: Intermediate · Upkeep: Regular · Change to daily life: Way of living · Works without the grid: Yes Choose it if you want a home you can put up in hours, move, and live in without a foundation.
Underground courtyard house (sunken pit dwelling) Can I use it? Not in a flat · New build only What does it cost me? Upfront cost: High · Skill to build: Specialist · Upkeep: Light · Change to daily life: Way of living · Works without the grid: Yes Choose it if you have flat, firm, dry ground in a warm climate and want a private home around its own courtyard.
We don’t list sizing or quantities, as the yield of each technique depends on the quality of its build. The catalogue compares options but doesn’t dimension them. Regulatory notes are indicative, with a French example, and need to be confirmed locally.