After any travel through Italy, Greece, Spain, then western U.S., one wonders why we build as we do.
It must be that kindling is easy to bring to a site and cheap? It certainly doesn't insulate as well. Never mind that kindling burns, rots, hosts insects, or gets snapped like matchsticks in a strong breeze.
If rural EU -- or Ancestral Puebloan dwellings -- are our guide, these earth homes will long outlast their neighbors.
It is fast. Make frame from sticks, put material on either side and be done with it.
In Finland, logs were generally available. So logs were sensible material to use. And they have somewhat reasonable insulation properties. And rotting and such is not so big deal as long as there is some separation from the ground.
In the end it depends on availability of material and climate.
It must be that kindling is easy to bring to a site and cheap? It certainly doesn't insulate as well. Never mind that kindling burns, rots, hosts insects, or gets snapped like matchsticks in a strong breeze.
If rural EU -- or Ancestral Puebloan dwellings -- are our guide, these earth homes will long outlast their neighbors.