This is my favorite video yet. This man is present, conscious, and ambitious. The house feels balanced, creative, and somehow feels humble despite the size. Wonderful perspective!
I'm fairly sure that people comment all the time that 'this is the best house ever', etc .............but without a doubt this is the best house I have seen on your channel, (and watching for over 5 years). The thought through concepts, ...the amount of hard physical work, ...and the attention to detail is second to none, ......in my opinion. Thank you for filming it, ....... and Emmanuel for doing it !
Agreed - not trying to be funny but this home is on another level entirely. What an example of comfortable, harmonious living among the wild mountain heights. I can only imagine the sight of those vultures. This is the ultimate, thank you.
Great to hear you like the house. I did spent a lot of time thinking things though but we can never think things through enough. Thank you though for your kind words
This home is very similar to one that friends of my parents constructed in Vancouver way back in the early 70's. Originally it was a very small home perched on the edge of a hill to the rear. They expanded the rear to form a new kitchen and sitting area at the back, with an open staircase down to the lower level. The back wall faced south, and was entirely glass, so it created a two-storey greenhouse, in which they grew vegetables all year long. The back wall was very thick and absorbed heat during the day, which was radiated to the house after nightfall. They had a small wood stove in a living room at the front of the house, facing north. Except for that small living room the house ran (and presumably still runs) entirely on passive heat, and that worked extremely well even during Vancouver's very cloudy and rainy winters. The creator of that home was an engineer. The owners passed away quite a few years ago, and I don't know who has the home now. I think there were a lot of homes created on similar principles during the very early '70's, during that early environmental movement, but all built by individuals, and tucked away in corners of our ordinary residential neighbourhoods. It's a shame we don't know more about them. It would be wonderful if someone could locate such buildings and bring them to the attention of the public now, when we are all far more educated and aware of the issues of climate change. Historically, also, it would be interesting to research those efforts, as they are 50 years or more older now, and it would be interesting to know how well they have managed to achieve the builders' aims half a century later.
Agree! My father who was an engineer himself, designed & built our 4-level home on five acres in hilly rural Rochester, Michigan in the 1950's. Uncle Ed also an engineer, & Aunt Ruth, (my parent's best friends), purchased half our property & built a six-level home on their lot. Both homes were designed & built to maximize the benefits of the topography, sun movement, wind direction, etc. Very Frank Lloyd Wright-ish - using all natural materials, and lots of double-paned glass. You never need air conditioning, because half the house is built into the hill & remains 65 degrees all year round.
@@emmasise1004 Out west, north of West Point Grey, that area. But from the front it's a very ordinary house - the addition is at the rear. You wouldn't notice it.
Many wonderful qualities, including being helpful to area wildlife -- I especially love things like steps out of the pond designed for the 2 frogs that visit the pond! The whole home is beautiful!😄❤
@@kirstendirksen Last summer I visited a EuroParcs camping in Hermagor, Austria that utilizes the same concept but on a larger scale. Amazing experience. Btw, thank you for all the amazing stories.
We are actually in the French Pyrénées and have been planning a similar pool but hadn't found technical advice outside UK. Meeting up with these guys might actually be the thing we need. Thank you @Kirsten Dirksen. My skin can't tolerate chlorine.
Anything I say , it will not make honor to this place ... and Emmanuel , a very conscious man .. I am an architect and this makes me feel very happy to see péople who realy makes the best posible way to live in harmony with the envirnonment . I would love to be his neighbor.Thanks Kirsten .
This home displays many Permaculture principles, built on by great imagination, experience, and ingenuity. It's an evolving work of living art. Thank you, Kirsten and family!
yes I have sourced a lot from the principles of permaculture which I believe are important when desinging anything that is place based. Thank you for your kind words.
Beautiful location. Loved your drone shots. Really like his philosophy about being in harmony with nature as opposed to trying to force something to live a more modern lifestyle. And how very smart to wait a year before doing anything so that he could have an understanding of the airflow and sun positioning and then act accordingly.
I love the beautiful stone and masonry work as well as the wood work in the house and the beautiful clay walls of the house. The only thing more beautiful than the house is the heart this man shows towards the world around him. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful and beautiful video Kirsten!
Kirsten, you and your husband have an amazing gift of transporting us to where ever you are! I really felt like i was in the Pyrenees mountains while watching this video.
I'd be happy with a bedroom looking down on the clouds and with stepping out on a balcony grazed by passing vultures and to go outside and swim with frogs. Thanks for this tour.
This location is wonderful. The open concept and bringing outside in is excellent. I love how they recycle the water naturally and use the elements to heat and cool the house. Very educational and interesting. Thank you for all you do! I look forward to all of your videos.
Hi Kirsten! I have followed you and your family for a few years now, and I "LIKE" your work. Many times I have wondered how do you live yourself? Did I miss an episode? Happy New Year from Sweden
Spain seems to be the passive reuse sustainable global champ of housing. The rounded edges for soft lighting really gives that warm inviting atmosphere. Love the mobile hanging chairs too. Why have the big mattresses? All organic materials are an allergic persons dream. Arid climate + location mandate cistern water source & Why not? An aerie perch with the wildlife using your cliff for its thermals to glide by..The views oh man This is satisfying on so many levels. tfs
Well deserved titles for Emmanuel's home: Regenerative, Net-Positive, a platinum LEED certified home, the first project in Europe to be able to say it has accomplished criteria of the Living Building Challenge etc... Great topic for one of your videos Kirsten! Sorry to have missed you on this visit, thanks for sharing all these lovely places, projects and people in our area! Best wishes for you and your family in this New Year!
by far the best and most well tought through project shown so far Kirsten! an eco-build with environmental adaptation and proper functionality where esthetics and modern architectural/construction expression s in harmony while respecting a heritage site and a historic building! it's a glowing example! as an eco architect and natural pool builder it makes me immensly happy that you show now that there's an alternative to all those sensory-deprived, uncomfortable pretentious minimalist "I only own my underwear" type projects often shown on your channel nowadays. thanks!! keep them coming!
Once again, your family does such a great job of showing us how other people live, and how we can live too. Thank you for sharing with us, these wonderful places and their amazing views.
As a child, my parents took my siblings and I to Iceland on two separate occasions to visit family friends; once in the winter and the other in the summer. Experiencing the long days of darkness as well as the long days of light were like a fantasy. And we saw the northern lights... undescribable.
I learnt two things from this video: first observe the land and environment before building anything permanent and second use rounded corners almost everywhere, the lighting aspect and softer shadows makes so much sense
Kirsten, your kids are going to grow up to be the most interesting & incredible adults. What a cool life! Thx for so much quality & meaningful content. 💕✌️
Those are my favourite subjects, creating a thriving home environment with natural materials and the wisdom of Earth|Sun. Thank you for sharing your gorgeous home with us. I call this perfection.
That is amazing! This video captured my attention unlike any of the wonderful ones I've seen so far. Truly wonderful setting, and the biological pool was next level.
I wish I could find someone to do project like this. Thank you for sharing with us these beautiful inspiring ENVIRONMENT friendly videos around the world . 👏🏻🙌🙏💜☮
There are companies that build natural cleaning pools in Europe and North America. Lots of people don’t want a chlorinated pool. Incredible home and designer.
This home is LUSCIOUS. It's warm and cozy like a small place with the expansive openness of the large. It doesn't compartmentalize. It has a soft quality to it from structure to colors. I've always known, yet forget how surrounded we are by gases and elements, radioactivity. So I wonder what it would be like to spend a few months away from all that to see how it affects me.
Perfection. Congratulations to these wonderful people. I wish commercial construction would build affordable housing based on these principles of working with the land, sun, wind, rain, plants and animals. For the good of the environment. We would be much happier.
Building homes that support the health of natural systems and people is a passion of mine. How can we make homes that are built according to values and principles that are aligned with the health of nature, human health, and our overall future well being. Bringing these values to real estate development is part of my work. I want to help developers focus on building affordable housing designed around principles of health, rather than just profits.Not easy but worthwhile.
@@pauwelsemmanuel It's obviously your passion. Mine too. I built my sister a circular mud studio in her garden in the UK, (based on the homes our mother grew up in) and have completed 3 wooden buildings on a small piece of mountain land in Portugal, using pallets and other repurposed materials. Solar and wood burning power, composting toilets and water from a mountain spring, using a ram pump. Had to research everything from the internet. RUclips was key. This simple way of living is also a very healthy way to live...not much time to sit around! I'm especially concerned that "developing" countries don't follow the West's approach to construction, so they don't make the same mistakes as we have,....with our polluted water and air...and the toxic materials we use in our homes.
This really is gorgeous, and wonderful.... as long as you can manage stairs, and nobody has medical issues that mean they might be taking up one of the household toilets all the time. I really love the pool, and its frog stairs.
Wow that's amazing. Thanks for all the videos inspiring me sooo much. I just love this channel and it's one of my dreams to know so much cool stuff like this guy did to build such a ingenious house 😍 amazing!!
"It's not ab0out being less bad, it's about being good." - Key takeaway.
Absolutely.
words to live by
This is my favorite video yet. This man is present, conscious, and ambitious. The house feels balanced, creative, and somehow feels humble despite the size. Wonderful perspective!
I want a life like this T_T
Yes exactly right!
So well said
I agree
Real architect vibes
I'm fairly sure that people comment all the time that 'this is the best house ever', etc .............but without a doubt this is the best house I have seen on your channel, (and watching for over 5 years). The thought through concepts, ...the amount of hard physical work, ...and the attention to detail is second to none, ......in my opinion. Thank you for filming it, ....... and Emmanuel for doing it !
Agreed - not trying to be funny but this home is on another level entirely. What an example of comfortable, harmonious living among the wild mountain heights. I can only imagine the sight of those vultures. This is the ultimate, thank you.
Great to hear you like the house. I did spent a lot of time thinking things though but we can never think things through enough. Thank you though for your kind words
This home is very similar to one that friends of my parents constructed in Vancouver way back in the early 70's. Originally it was a very small home perched on the edge of a hill to the rear. They expanded the rear to form a new kitchen and sitting area at the back, with an open staircase down to the lower level. The back wall faced south, and was entirely glass, so it created a two-storey greenhouse, in which they grew vegetables all year long. The back wall was very thick and absorbed heat during the day, which was radiated to the house after nightfall. They had a small wood stove in a living room at the front of the house, facing north. Except for that small living room the house ran (and presumably still runs) entirely on passive heat, and that worked extremely well even during Vancouver's very cloudy and rainy winters. The creator of that home was an engineer. The owners passed away quite a few years ago, and I don't know who has the home now. I think there were a lot of homes created on similar principles during the very early '70's, during that early environmental movement, but all built by individuals, and tucked away in corners of our ordinary residential neighbourhoods. It's a shame we don't know more about them. It would be wonderful if someone could locate such buildings and bring them to the attention of the public now, when we are all far more educated and aware of the issues of climate change. Historically, also, it would be interesting to research those efforts, as they are 50 years or more older now, and it would be interesting to know how well they have managed to achieve the builders' aims half a century later.
Yes , would be interesting to know !
Agree! My father who was an engineer himself, designed & built our 4-level home on five acres in hilly rural Rochester, Michigan in the 1950's. Uncle Ed also an engineer, & Aunt Ruth, (my parent's best friends), purchased half our property & built a six-level home on their lot.
Both homes were designed & built to maximize the benefits of the topography, sun movement, wind direction, etc. Very Frank Lloyd Wright-ish - using all natural materials, and lots of double-paned glass. You never need air conditioning, because half the house is built into the hill & remains 65 degrees all year round.
what neighborhood is the house in? i want to keep my eye out for it!
@@emmasise1004 Out west, north of West Point Grey, that area. But from the front it's a very ordinary house - the addition is at the rear. You wouldn't notice it.
Thank you Kirsten for finding this and showing it to us. This is living within nature.👏👏👏 Bravo, Beautiful.
Many wonderful qualities, including being helpful to area wildlife -- I especially love things like steps out of the pond designed for the 2 frogs that visit the pond! The whole home is beautiful!😄❤
I loved that pool as well. Always loved swimming in lakes so I could relate to his comments.
@@kirstendirksen Last summer I visited a EuroParcs camping in Hermagor, Austria that utilizes the same concept but on a larger scale. Amazing experience. Btw, thank you for all the amazing stories.
We are actually in the French Pyrénées and have been planning a similar pool but hadn't found technical advice outside UK. Meeting up with these guys might actually be the thing we need. Thank you @Kirsten Dirksen. My skin can't tolerate chlorine.
There was no mention of refrigerator?
@@gayledayman2382 They have modern appliances. But with those lower spaces perhaps a root cellar too? idk
Anything I say , it will not make honor to this place ... and Emmanuel , a very conscious man .. I am an architect and this makes me feel very happy to see péople who realy makes the best posible way to live in harmony with the envirnonment . I would love to be his neighbor.Thanks Kirsten .
People like him should have key positions in governments
This home displays many Permaculture principles, built on by great imagination, experience, and ingenuity. It's an evolving work of living art. Thank you, Kirsten and family!
yes I have sourced a lot from the principles of permaculture which I believe are important when desinging anything that is place based. Thank you for your kind words.
What an amazing place! I love the fact that the owners left the place "lived in", for the filming. Your videos continue to bring me joy. Thank you.
Probably the coolest high-concept ecohome I've seen to date.
"It's not about sq-meters, it's about the quality of the space." Bravo.
Enjoy this amazing 2023!!
Beautiful location. Loved your drone shots. Really like his philosophy about being in harmony with nature as opposed to trying to force something to live a more modern lifestyle. And how very smart to wait a year before doing anything so that he could have an understanding of the airflow and sun positioning and then act accordingly.
"It's not about square meters. It's about quality of space." That is one heck of a quote.
Your kids are really growing up!
What a treat!!! THANK YOU Original builders, Emmanuel Pauwels Family & Kirsten Family for the overall RECONNECTION 💓
I love the beautiful stone and masonry work as well as the wood work in the house and the beautiful clay walls of the house. The only thing more beautiful than the house is the heart this man shows towards the world around him. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful and beautiful video Kirsten!
I love the organic pool, every pool should be like that - so incredible! Can't believe I didn't learn about this concept until I was 27!!!
This guy has certainly carved himself out a nice slice of heaven there.
It is amazing how he paying attention about things around himself, the nature etc..!
So very inspiring and yet most people are oblivious as to what can be done to reclaim old villages to live in a modern way.
Kirsten, you and your husband have an amazing gift of transporting us to where ever you are! I really felt like i was in the Pyrenees mountains while watching this video.
I am richer in my consciousness, just from seeing this video. I love everything about this house, indoors ans outdoors. Thank you 🪴🍀🌱🌿
I very rarely remember anything. This time, I remembered almost everything). Thank you.
This way of thinking is so 'outside the box', it's amazing. Rain water runs through the house. Thank you, guys, for letting me to see that
What a stunning home! All the details and love put into this place, so inspiring!
This is a very cool house, I'd have to say the way he designed it to be part of the earth and not against the earth. He's built a brilliant home.
This is a magnificent house! Emmanuel’s vision, ingenuity and artistry blows my mind.
Another Christopher Alexander reference .. I thought this design was very Pattern Language.... beautiful.. piece of art!
I really love this man's way of explaining things.,. Tadpoles cleaning your toes... Completing the circle of life, Beautiful,!!!!
I'm a fan of natural swimming pools. It's a plus for natural surroundings.
House in a mountain top has always the best views😄👍
I'd be happy with a bedroom looking down on the clouds and with stepping out on a balcony grazed by passing vultures and to go outside and swim with frogs. Thanks for this tour.
This location is wonderful. The open concept and bringing outside in is excellent. I love how they recycle the water naturally and use the elements to heat and cool the house. Very educational and interesting. Thank you for all you do! I look forward to all of your videos.
I love how philosophical people you interview are. They're builders of dreams and teachers of principles.
Wow, this one is definitely in my top ten favorite places you’ve shown us
Hi Kirsten! I have followed you and your family for a few years now, and I "LIKE" your work. Many times I have wondered how do you live yourself? Did I miss an episode? Happy New Year from Sweden
They live in or near Paris. They also have a house in Spain, which was shown in at least 2 videos.
Spain seems to be the passive reuse sustainable global champ of housing. The rounded edges for soft lighting really gives that warm inviting atmosphere. Love the mobile hanging chairs too. Why have the big mattresses? All organic materials are an allergic persons dream. Arid climate + location mandate cistern water source & Why not? An aerie perch with the wildlife using your cliff for its thermals to glide by..The views oh man This is satisfying on so many levels. tfs
Well deserved titles for Emmanuel's home: Regenerative, Net-Positive, a platinum LEED certified home, the first project in Europe to be able to say it has accomplished criteria of the Living Building Challenge etc... Great topic for one of your videos Kirsten! Sorry to have missed you on this visit, thanks for sharing all these lovely places, projects and people in our area! Best wishes for you and your family in this New Year!
No words. Such a beautiful and respectful place. Thank you for sharing!
by far the best and most well tought through project shown so far Kirsten! an eco-build with environmental adaptation and proper functionality where esthetics and modern architectural/construction expression s in harmony while respecting a heritage site and a historic building! it's a glowing example! as an eco architect and natural pool builder it makes me immensly happy that you show now that there's an alternative to all those sensory-deprived, uncomfortable pretentious minimalist "I only own my underwear" type projects often shown on your channel nowadays. thanks!! keep them coming!
Once again, your family does such a great job of showing us how other people live, and how we can live too. Thank you for sharing with us, these wonderful places and their amazing views.
The level of mindfulness they employed here is insane.
"Its not about Sqaure Feet, Its about the Quality of Space" ....👌
What a beautiful artistic genius for sure and one of the best homes I have seen in a long while.
Absolutely love the quirky layout of the house the colours, the natural pool and the views are spectacular!
Thanks, Kirsten. Your videos, the people and places they spotlight give me Faith in the Future. ☺️🌍🌎🌏☮
That is so wonderfully thoughtful. His enthusiasm and matter of fact reflects his mindfulness of his environment. Excellent
Absolutely amazing, a lot of Yogic wisdom in building the house after watching sun, wind, etc and shapes, materials. I've no words
As a child, my parents took my siblings and I to Iceland on two separate occasions to visit family friends; once in the winter and the other in the summer. Experiencing the long days of darkness as well as the long days of light were like a fantasy. And we saw the northern lights... undescribable.
One of my favorites, Thank you!
I learnt two things from this video: first observe the land and environment before building anything permanent and second use rounded corners almost everywhere, the lighting aspect and softer shadows makes so much sense
Brillant concept..living with and along side nature
Kirsten, your kids are going to grow up to be the most interesting & incredible adults. What a cool life! Thx for so much quality & meaningful content. 💕✌️
Amazing. And everything has been carried up through the only street - which makes the result even more impressive.
Best channel on RUclips
this is paradise in my opinion.
Tranquil. So impressive. 25minutes flew by. Thank you 😌🕉
Some nice drone footage!
Beautiful views! Another great find, guys!
Those are my favourite subjects, creating a thriving home environment with natural materials and the wisdom of Earth|Sun. Thank you for sharing your gorgeous home with us. I call this perfection.
It is one of the most inteligent, în partnership with nature, most beautifull through' its common-sense houses that I ever see.
It is a GOOD work!
What a wonderful place and mentality!
Thanks for another amazing documentary!!!
Another incredible find…beautiful location…brilliant renovation…one of the best…thanks…
That is amazing! This video captured my attention unlike any of the wonderful ones I've seen so far. Truly wonderful setting, and the biological pool was next level.
I wish I could find someone to do project like this.
Thank you for sharing with us these beautiful inspiring ENVIRONMENT friendly videos around the world .
👏🏻🙌🙏💜☮
Honestly a dream house, everything done right !
Most incredible "earthship" style home I've ever seen.
There are companies that build natural cleaning pools in Europe and North America. Lots of people don’t want a chlorinated pool.
Incredible home and designer.
Just as expected, fantastic content. Thank you. 🙏🏻❤️
Absolutely fantastic home. A true goal to strive for.
Love your Ytube Channel 🌅🌺🤗🙏👍👍
I love your videos. I think you like Spanish and Italian landscapes, culture and houses. 👍❤️
This home is LUSCIOUS. It's warm and cozy like a small place with the expansive openness of the large. It doesn't compartmentalize. It has a soft quality to it from structure to colors. I've always known, yet forget how surrounded we are by gases and elements, radioactivity. So I wonder what it would be like to spend a few months away from all that to see how it affects me.
Congratulations!
Super done ✔️ 🎉
Simply brilliant! Kudos!
This is a wonderful house, and all the thought and planning that went into it. Very comfortable and charming.
Perfection. Congratulations to these wonderful people.
I wish commercial construction would build affordable housing based on these principles of working with the land, sun, wind, rain, plants and animals. For the good of the environment. We would be much happier.
Building homes that support the health of natural systems and people is a passion of mine. How can we make homes that are built according to values and principles that are aligned with the health of nature, human health, and our overall future well being. Bringing these values to real estate development is part of my work. I want to help developers focus on building affordable housing designed around principles of health, rather than just profits.Not easy but worthwhile.
@@pauwelsemmanuel It's obviously your passion. Mine too. I built my sister a circular mud studio in her garden in the UK, (based on the homes our mother grew up in) and have completed 3 wooden buildings on a small piece of mountain land in Portugal, using pallets and other repurposed materials. Solar and wood burning power, composting toilets and water from a mountain spring, using a ram pump. Had to research everything from the internet. RUclips was key. This simple way of living is also a very healthy way to live...not much time to sit around! I'm especially concerned that "developing" countries don't follow the West's approach to construction, so they don't make the same mistakes as we have,....with our polluted water and air...and the toxic materials we use in our homes.
true connection with earth and life
Love this, it is so well thought out and has a lovely ambience about it with the natural clay interior walls.
What a home, what a place. I would love to live there.
Beautiful place!
This really is gorgeous, and wonderful.... as long as you can manage stairs, and nobody has medical issues that mean they might be taking up one of the household toilets all the time. I really love the pool, and its frog stairs.
We hope to be spared of medical issues indeed. The many stairs would be a challenge then, fully agree.
Love his explanations and details about temperature, wind and how to position the house
Harmonising with the place...❤❤❤
Wow that's amazing. Thanks for all the videos inspiring me sooo much. I just love this channel and it's one of my dreams to know so much cool stuff like this guy did to build such a ingenious house 😍 amazing!!
Such a beautiful house.
Just loved this video Kirsten, the invites and places you and your hubby go to...amazing journeys.
Very well done
🏞 Thank you, Kirsten! This man has inspired me how to live more in harmony. To 'not do less bad, but to do good', YES! #veganforlife
I so love the homes you visit. Thank you for this.
Labour of love.
Beautiful place ❤️
Wow! Impressive and beautiful!
Beautiful place, well built. Harmonic with all around it. Thanks for showing us, Kirsten.
Absolutely my dream home.
They are so lucky & smart to get this place!
Very inspiring! Thank you for another great video.
What a wonderful home!!