Complex DomesKelly and Rosana Hart's ear

 

thbag/pa

 

per

 

crete hom

 

e 

 

com

 

 pleted in

 

2000. T

 

his

1250 sq.f 

 

t. hom

 

e was m

 

ade with the earth

 

 bag

 

s f 

 

illed with socria (crushed volcan

 

ic

stone) and covered with papercrete plaster. T

 

he passiv

 

e solar design perf 

 

orm

 

s well

at over 8,000 f 

 

t. in the Colorado mou

 

ntains.

La Casa Vergara 

 

was designed by José Andrés Valle

 

 jo and built in

Bogotá, Colombia in just 5 mon

 

th

 

s, early in 2011. T

 

h

 

e design ex

 

 plores the

 potential of 

 

seism

 

ic resistance with superadobe as the construction

techn

 

ology

 

and contemprary

 

design. T

 

h

 

e cost per m

 

2 is estimated at $300

USD (about $28/sq.f 

 

t.), making

 

it a robust altern

 

ativ

 

e f 

 

or h

 

ousing with

 

low

cost an

 

d high bioclim

 

atic perf 

 

ormance.

T

 

his Ear

 

thbag Clinic 

 

in the Philippines was coordinated by Illac Diaz

 

, the

young

 

Phillipin

 

e vision

 

ary who has spearheaded man

 

y such

 

earth

 

 bag

 

 pro

 

 jects in

the area, including

 

several schools. T

 

here is no text describing

 

the process of 

 bu

 

ilding, bu

 

t the many

 

 photos tell most of 

 

the story

 

. You

 

will notice that th

 

e bag

material was rem

 

oved af 

 

ter the f 

 

ill had set u

 

 p an

 

d bef 

 

ore th

 

e build

 

in

 

g was

 plastered.

Featured are the Ea

 

rthbag Domes of 

 

Akio Inoue 

 

of 

 

T

 

en

 

ri University

 

, Japan. He

assisted building these on the university campus, at an

 

earth

 

quake site near Jamn

 

agar,

India, and

 

in Entebe, Uganda. T

 

hese domes are bein

 

g con

 

sidered f 

 

or use as ref 

 

u

 

gee

shelters in

 

the reg

 

ion, because they provide good

 

 protection f 

 

rom bullets, f 

 

ire, wind,

an

 

d rain

 

.

Using a techn

 

ique developed by

 

Cal Earth

 

in Calif 

 

orn

 

ia, architect Nader Kahlili

worked with

 

th

 

e Pegasus Children's Project 

 

to build a sm

 

all sustainable villag

 

e

of 

 

ov

 

er 40 "super adobe domes"

 

to provide perm

 

anen

 

t shelter. T

 

his project

accomm

 

odates 80 children, 10 staf 

 

f 

 

, an

 

d a small sch

 

ool near Kath

 

m

 

andu, Nepal,

in

 

th

 

e Himalaya Mou

 

ntain

 

s - the f 

 

irst of 

 

its kind f 

 

or the region

 

.

Hootenanny in Baja 

 

T

 

ogether with the earth

 

, sun

 

, and sea, we will craf 

 

t

an

 

abode of 

 

 beauty, sim

 

 plicity and com

 

f 

 

ort. Workin

 

g together, we'll

ex

 

 pand our horizons - h

 

ow to build a saf 

 

e and

 

 beau

 

tif 

 

ul home f 

 

or a sm

 

all

cost. I m

 

ade the pro

 

 ject under tim

 

e, a little over budget, and am signif 

 

icantly

happier with the result than I h

 

ad envision

 

ed. So, I'm

 

a happy m

 

an.

Uganda Ecovillage

 

. In 2008 Sunn

 

y T

 

sai volu

 

nteered to assist a team of 

two architects and eight prof 

 

essors, under the direction of 

 

Akio In

 

oue of 

T

 

en

 

ri University

 

, Japan, to construct an ecovillage by

 

Lake Victoria,

Ug

 

anda, East Af 

 

rica. T

 

his ecovillage was designed by architect Kikum

 

a

Watan

 

abe of 

 

the Kochi Univ

 

ersity of 

 

T

 

echn

 

ology

 

.

 

Jorg

 

e Dominguez

 

h

 

as been hel

 

 ping his f 

 

riend

 

Mark Hanson

 

 build the f 

 

irst Code

 

Permitted Haw

 

aiian Dome Home

 

. T

 

his is a copy of 

 

a desert earthbag dome

ad

 

apted to su

 

 per heavy rain. It took Mark like a year to get his perm

 

it. Lots of 

 patience requ

 

ired

 

. T

 

his d

 

om

 

e is going to be sold to a retired couple. It is not

mean

 

t f 

 

or a f 

 

amil

 

y with kids.

T

 

he J

 

oshua

 

Tr

 

ee Home 

 

is the eventual residen

 

ce of 

 

Mark R 

 

eppert. It is a dou

 

 ble

eco dome desig

 

ned by Cal-Earth. San Bernardino County gave Mark a perm

 

it to

 build

 

the h

 

ouse. The bu

 

ilding reg

 

u

 

lations there are some of 

 

the toug

 

hest in the

coun

 

try

 

. We were an international crew of 

 

 builders. T

 

h

 

ere were 5 core builders

with extra volun

 

teers on occasion

 

.

T

 

he W

 

arsaw

 

Dome 

 

 pro

 

 ject was built in Polan

 

d as a dem

 

onstration of 

 

in

 

expensive,

sustainable building

 

techniques that oth

 

ers m

 

igh

 

t em

 

 ploy. T

 

his is on

 

e of 

 

m

 

any such

 pro

 

 jects initiated by the Earth, Han

 

ds, and Houses organization f 

 

ounded by Paulina

Wo

 

 jciechowska, au

 

thor of 

 

 Building with Earth: A Guide to Flexible-F 

 

orm

 

 Earthbag Construction 

 

.

T

 

wo retain

 

in

 

g

 

walls and the beginning of 

 

an earth

 

 bag

 

tube dom

 

e hom

 

e in Midpines

 

,

Calif 

 

ornia. "Michele an

 

d Sara-Ann

 

standing nex

 

t to ou

 

r f 

 

irst window f 

 

orm

 

. We're f 

 

ast

approaching 3000 f 

 

eet as of 

 

April 5, 2007."

Hom

 

eG

 

rown HideAway

 

s, a natu

 

ral bu

 

ilding sch

 

ool in

 

Kentucky helped John

Capillo build h

 

is Kentucky Dome Home 

 

wh

 

ile running a workshop to teach

 people the f 

 

undamentals of 

 

earthbag building. T

 

he code of 

 

f 

 

icials were incredibly

open to new things and gav

 

e John

 

his perm

 

it withou

 

t hassle. His design has a 16

f 

 

oot dome with a larger circle coming of 

 

f 

 

the dom

 

e that has a wooden roof 

 

.

Krpasu

 

ndarananda is a Meditation teacher with Ananda Marga and

 

h

 

as been a

Mon

 

k sin

 

ce 1991. The Eco-Dome in Ananda Naga

 

r, India 

 

is a sh

 

owpiece to

inspire oth

 

er m

 

embers an

 

d teach

 

ers and he hopes one or two of 

 

the laborers or 

v

 

isiting v

 

illag

 

ers get th

 

e id

 

ea and will want to learn more. He'll be happy

 

to help

them

 

to build in their own villages.

Building

 

the Double Dome in Mong

 

olia 

 

was f 

 

u

 

n and again I learn

 

ed a lot. I

thou

 

ght I cam

 

e to teach, bu

 

t then f 

 

ou

 

nd that I h

 

ave hardly any experience how to

work with a bun

 

ch of 

 

unrul

 

y teenage boys and girls, wh

 

at to say...I didn't even

speak the language! The kids are v

 

ery proud of 

 

their work and

 

the dom

 

e will be

used f 

 

or teenage programs.

Mickey Mouse in Morelia, Mexico 

 

We should get spon

 

sorsh

 

ip f 

 

rom

Disn

 

ey Land... Mickey

 

Mou

 

se is easy to recog

 

nise. Oops, they may

 

charge

us royalties.

 

The Sandbag Shelters of 

 

Na

 

der

 

K 

 

halili 

 

I will show y

 

ou what to me, is an

 

exellen

 

t

way to made architecture, how we can m

 

ake, with

 

f 

 

ew and natural resou

 

rces, great

space design, and at th

 

e same time, solve dif 

 

f 

 

erents social problem

 

s, one of 

 

the

 princi

 

 pal motives and preocupation

 

s of 

 

m

 

odern architecture.

Tim Hall's Earthbag Home in Ha

 

w

 

aii 

 

sh

 

ows, m

 

ostly in pictures, how a

CalEarth-style Su

 

 peradobe hom

 

e was built, usin

 

g cemen

 

t-stabiliz

 

ed tubu

 

lar bags

that were then burned away

 

 bef 

 

ore the building was plastered.

Just east of 

 

Bisbee, Arizona this Ransom Ranch Dome 

 

 pro

 

 ject was com

 

 pleted

af 

 

ter stu

 

dying an

 

d adm

 

iring Nader Khalili's altern

 

ative building

 

work since 1985. I

f 

 

in

 

ally apprenticed with h

 

im

 

at Cal-Earth in Nov

 

ember 2007.

T

 

h

 

is Dom

 

e Experiment w

 

ith Lar

 

ge Window

 

s 

 

has a 24' in

 

side diameter at

the base, risin

 

g

 

on a 'catenary

 

' curv

 

ature to sloping truncation around 16'

above grade. T

 

h

 

is was attempted as a f 

 

airly aggressive exploration

 

of 

 

structural

 potential with this sy

 

stem

 

in several capacities, an

 

d qu

 

ite cog

 

niz

 

antly

surrend

 

ered to the tests of 

 

time. I can only stand beh

 

ind

 

this as an artist of 

sorts, as it is beyon

 

d most established

 

 protocol of 

 

construction.

T

 

his Com

 

munity Center in

 

Haiti 

 

will be f 

 

or th

 

e Mango Grower's Association

 

, an

 

d

the village of 

 

Barriere Jeud

 

y, as well as a hurricane and f 

 

lood sh

 

elter as the rainy

season picks u

 

 p. T

 

h

 

e buildin

 

g of 

 

the center is also f 

 

unction

 

ing as a buildin

 

g

workshop, or a skill-share to introdu

 

ce local builders and resid

 

ents to th

 

e super 

ad

 

obe buildin

 

g techniqu

 

e.

Monique's House in

 

Haiti 

 

Moniqu

 

e was th

 

e woman

 

who had g

 

iven birth

 

to a

 baby girl during the bu

 

ilding of 

 

the above community center an

 

d we wanted

 

to

 build h

 

er a hou

 

se. We sen

 

t word to h

 

er and h

 

er extend

 

ed f 

 

amily that we would

 be returning an

 

d asking

 

if 

 

indeed she would like to live in a house of 

 

the style we

are creating. T

 

h

 

e answer cam

 

e back af 

 

f 

 

irmative.