Several of the most popular models in the Wikitree suggest the use of Gabion walls as both earth retaining walls and walls of the building. (A Gabion wall is made of wire baskets filled with locally available materials such as rocks and tied together with more wire.) Gabion walls have a long tradition of successful use in civil engineering as retaining walls.
More recently, architects have showed interest in using Gabion walls for building structures. However, this seems seems to be very experimental. The examples I found actually depend on a large amount of structural steel, in addition to the gabion baskets. For example, the Dominus Winery in California (http://flickr.com/search/?q=gabion+walls), which appears to have gabion walls, is actually supported by steel tubes, with the gabion baskets being a skin thin enough to let light into the building. (http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/send-pdf.cgi?acc_num=ucin1148267772)
The Gabion wall industry itself does not seem to be promoting Gabion walls as a suitable material for building structures. (See, for example, www.gabions.net/downloads/Documents/MGS_Design_Guide.pdf, http://www.maccaferri-usa.com/gabion.aspx and www.weld-mesh.com/gabions.htm,http://www.hy-ten.co.uk/pages/downloads.htm )
The EERA (Earthquake Engineering Reconstruction Authority) of Pakistan, in their publication GUIDELINES FOR EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT CONSTRUCTION OF NON-ENGINEERED RURAL AND SUBURBAN MASONRY HOUSES IN CEMENT SAND MORTAR IN EARTHQUAKE AFFECTED AREAS (http://www.erra.gov.pk/Reports/Construction_Guidelines_26may06.pdf), does have a section on the use of Gabion walls. In section 2.2.2, Gabion walls, they say "It is necessary to have a safe space between the down stream retaining wall and the house. DO NOT USE THIS WALL AS A HOUSE WALL. " (emphasis in the original). I have not been able to find any other mention of gabion walls in various reference works on building structures primarily with non-engineered materials.
