Chris Magwood

Builder, Researcher & Author

Chris Magwood is obsessed with making the best, most energy efficient, beautiful and inspiring buildings possible – without wrecking the whole darn planet in the process. Chris is a founder of The Endeavour Centre and teaches in the Sustainable Building & Design program, Natural Building Intensive and many workshops where he enjoys sharing what he’s learned over his 25-year building career and inspiring others to take this stuff seriously and do it well.

Chris has authored seven books on sustainable building, including: Essential Sustainable Home Design (2017), Essential Hempcrete Construction (2016) and Making Better Buildings (2014) and contributed a chapter to the book The New Carbon Architecture. He is co-editor of the Sustainable Building Essentials series from New Society Publishers. He is currently at work on a new book, Building Beyond Zero: New Ideas for Carbon Smart Architecture (Island Press).

Chris began his building career as an owner/builder, constructing the first permitted straw bale house in Ontario in 1996. In 1998 he co-founded Camel’s Back Construction, and over eight years helped to design and/or build more than 30 homes and commercial buildings, mostly with straw bales and often with renewable energy systems. Chris recently completed his MA at Trent University, studying carbon storage potential of the built environment. His thesis, Opportunities for Carbon Capture and Storage in Building Materials was published in April, 2019. Chris is an active speaker and workshop instructor in Canada and internationally.