An autonomous building is a hypothetical building designed to be operated independently from infrastructural support services such as the electric power grid, gas grid, municipal water systems, sewage treatment systems, storm drains, communication services, and in some cases, public roads. The literature mostly refers to housing, or the autonomous house.

Advocates of autonomous building describe advantages that include reduced environmental impacts, increased security, and lower costs of ownership. Some cited advantages satisfy tenets of green building, not independence per se (see below). Off-grid buildings often rely very little on civil services and are therefore safer and more comfortable during civil disaster or military attacks. For example, off-grid buildings would not lose power or water if public supplies were compromised.

In the 1970s, groups of activists and engineers were inspired by the warnings of imminent resource depletion and starvation. In the United States, a group calling themselves the New Alchemists were famous for the depth of research effort placed in their projects. Using conventional construction techniques, they designed a series of "bioshelter" projects, the most famous of which was The Ark bioshelter community for Prince Edward Island. They published the plans for all of these, with detailed design calculations and blueprints. The Ark used wind-based water pumping and electricity and was self-contained in food production. It had living quarters for people, fish tanks raising tilapia for protein, a greenhouse watered with fish water, and a closed-loop sewage reclamation system that recycled human waste into sanitized fertilizer for the fish tanks.

Around 1975–1977, Australian architect and lecturer at University of Sydney School of Architecture, Col James, in collaboration with urban designer, architect, artist, and university tutor Nick Hollo, designed and built an autonomous house on university grounds, in collaboration with students. This taught self-build sustainability to hundreds of students.

The 1990s saw the development of Earthships, similar in intent to the Ark project, but organised as a for-profit venture, with construction details published in a series of three books by American architect Mike Reynolds. The building material is tires filled with earth. This makes a wall that has large amounts of thermal mass (see earth sheltering). Berms are placed on exposed surfaces to further increase the house's temperature stability. The water system starts with rain water, processed for drinking, then washing, then plant watering, then toilet flushing, and finally black water is recycled again for more plant watering. The cisterns are placed and used as thermal masses. Power, including electricity, heat and water heating, is from solar power.

Some 1990s architects such as William McDonough and Ken Yeang applied environmentally responsible building design to large commercial buildings, such as office buildings, making them largely self-sufficient in energy production. One major bank building (ING Group's Amsterdam headquarters) in the Netherlands was constructed to be autonomous and artistic as well.

In 2002, British architects Brenda and Robert Vale wrote:

It is quite possible in all parts of Australia to construct a 'house with no bills', which would be comfortable without heating and cooling, which would make its own electricity, collect its own water and deal with its own waste...These houses can be built now, using off-the-shelf techniques. It is possible to build a "house with no bills" for the same price as a conventional house, but it would be (25%) smaller.