The twenty square meter house tells us another kind of architecture exists, with its columns made of oak-mast, walls made of compressed bush, its door repurposed from a derelict mansion and its stucco work done with mud.

Tugba Gunal and Birhan Erkutlu decided to move to Alakır Valley – Antalya, Turkey eight years ago. They grew up in Istanbul. They eat what they grow in their garden and live modestly, without wi-fi, without cell phones, and ten kilometers away from the closest village.

They ran away from the city, but the nightmare called a hydroelectric power station found them in 2009 in this untouched valley. Not only one, but six of them. They fund-raised forty thousand Turkish Lira from environmentalists to take action and bring the issue to court.

Although they won all the lawsuits against the hydroelectric power plants, they did not cease to exist. With the struggle getting complicated, they decide to let everyone know what happened and use social media to ignite the debate. They charge their mobile phones, cameras, and connect to Internet with fifty-watt solar panels. They continue the struggle from their modest home, while we do nothing in our hyper-technological offices.

Tugba, Birhan and Elif, Tayfun, who started living with them, took photos of their ‘home’, built for their half-a-year-old baby. Here are the materials used to build their house in two months of eight hour days; stone, soil, bush, ordure, tree, as well as repurposed doors, windows, sinks, taps, glass. Speaking on the repurposed door, Birhan says, “You can not find that kind of door. It’s very precious as no artisan makes it anymore. Waste is often the best material. You can go mad if you look at the street that way. There is a lot of wasted materials trashed just because they are not fashionable anymore.” Their motto is “The closest material is the best material”.

They say, “Our house is air-conditioned by itself. It is very easy to construct, yet it satisfies all our needs.” Their total expenses were 2,250 Turkish Lira, but they say it could be built it for free.