Tag Archive: natural building

Aprovecho Research Center

Instructor Erica Ann Bush

http://www.aprovecho.net

Tuition: $300

Come learn about natural building and earthen wall finishes in this 3-day hands-on workshop. We will turn the earth beneath our feet into healthy, beautiful, loveable surfaces. The course will cover harvesting local materials, processing raw materials for various types of plasters, and applying a three-part system including scratch coat, finish coat and pigmented clay paints or aliz. Time permitting, we will also cover basic artistic finishing techniques including burnishing, texture/relief and carving. Please bring good work clothes and boots and rain gear and prepare for all to get muddy. Let’s get plastered!

Custer, Wisconsin

Instructor Mark Morgan and Vincent Miresse

http://www.the-mrea.org

Tuition $110.00

Natural Building? Think three little pigs. Straw, Wood, Stone. Building with natural materials has been happening since the dawn of humankind. Come to the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) to learn about different types and styles of alternative construction and to learn about sustainable building and decision making. The purpose of this class is for people to reconnect with the materials that surround them and regain the knowledge about local, healthy, natural material use and selection and appropriate regional wall systems. Topics to be discussed: site and design considerations; foundations; local material – wood, clay, sand, stone, straw, etc.; wall systems – straw bale, light straw-clay, monolithic adobe (cob), cordwood, earth bag, rammed earth and rammed tire; earthen floors and plasters; stick framing, post and beam, and timber frame; and steel and living roofs.

Please register in advance.

Warren, Vermont

Instructor: Yestermorrow Design/Build School, multiple instructors

http://www.yestermorrow.org

Tuition:$6200

The Natural Building Intensive is a unique course of study that brings together a collaborative group of experienced and enthusiastic instructors with students in an in-depth, hands-on experience in natural building, from the design and planning stages through the finishing touches.

Students enrolled in the Summer 2010 program will help design and build a complete structure from start to finish – a building handcrafted from natural stone, straw, timber, and clay just down the road from Yestermorrow in Warren, Vermont. This program provides the opportunity to develop a range of natural building skills for owner-builders and aspiring professional natural builders alike. Additionally, the Natural Building Intensive will incorporate natural building methods with more commonly utilized building techniques, emphasizing an inte-grated approach to natural building systems for a northern climate.

There are no prerequisites for entering the program. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis through May 3, 2010.

Program Dates: May 30-August 20, 2010

The Natural Building Intensive includes all of the courses listed here (some adjustments may occur depending on the final project design), plus an additional 4 weeks of tutorials in between the classes covering all aspects of the building process. Tuition is $6,200 plus food and lodging.

Pine Ridge South Dakota/Jacksonville Oregon

Instructor: Coenraad Rogmans, James Thomson

http://www.housealive.org/

House Alive! is again offering an opportunity for people to get beyond the basics and experience an extended Natural Building apprenticeship. This immensely popular intensive course is designed for people who want to use natural building skills in a professional context or who want to take extra time to work on skill development for their personal project. Participants will get first-hand experience with every aspect of building a natural home, from the foundation to the roof. Learning how to build a natural home is one of the best investments you can make: once you know how to design, build and shape your own living space, you can save many thousands of dollars in living costs.

In many ways learning to build is like learning to play a musical instrument: It is hard to learn without another experienced person guiding you and, the more you do it the better you get. The apprenticeship program for 2010 offers 8 weeks of “hands-on” building, problem solving, designing and discussing all aspects of natural building, allowing you to take the time to develop new skills under the guidance of experienced natural builders.

This year’s apprenticeship takes place in two locations. We will start off in South Dakota by starting a 2 bedroom cob house on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (first 3 weeks). The reservation is incredibly beautiful, historically rich as well as tragic and is known as one of the poorest places in North America. After completing the site preparations for the building, apprentices will participate in an 8 day “complete Shelter” workshop along with other students.

please email welcome@housealive.org for more info.

Haiti Update.

Should any NBN members want to practically support the relief effort in Haiti, then please mail our director of events Max V. Jensen, max@nbnetwork.org. NBN does not directly manage such efforts, but help coordinate skilled people with relief organizations such as Builders Without Borders, Engineers Without Borders , Groundswell International, Permaculture Haiti and the Permaculture Relief Corps.

We currently have a request for someone to compile information about shelter and shelter related energy from the new very active e-list: http://lists.permaculturehaiti.org/mailman/listinfo/pcrelief and beyond.

If you are a skilled natural builder or permaculturalist and would like to donate phone or email consultation time to organizations supporting rebuilding efforts in Haiti or elsewhere please fill out the form below.

If you have a high need project that could use this list please contact us at rebuild@nbnetwork.org.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Shawnigan Lake, Vanocouver Island

Instructor: Elke Cole and others

http://www.ourecovillage.org

8-week Ecovillage internship offering broad introduction to natural building techniques including cob, straw bale, and Timber frame infill. Experienced instructors, real projects and community immersion. You will get a start into your natural building path and discover your gifts!

Online

Instructor: Rachel Connor

http://www.solarenergy.org

Tuition: $750

Building for the Future: Sustainable Home Design ONLINE

February 1 – March 14, 2010
Price: $750/
In the United States building operations account for over 43% of total US C02 emissions and two- thirds of total US electrical consumption. A transformation of the built environment is underway and Solar Energy International offers a comprehensive sustainable building program designed to inspire homeowners and building practitioners to engage in the principles of designing and building residential structures that achieve optimal year-round comfort, reduce energy consumption, improve indoor air quality and limit environmental impact. Spend 6-weeks emerging in the design principles and building techniques for a brighter future. The emphasis is on integrated design using a whole- building approach, applying building science and integrating green design strategies into the built environment. Also covered will be the synergistic relationship between climate-sensitive design and natural building materials.

REGISTER ONLINE WWW.SOLARENERGY.ORG OR CALL 970-963-8855.

Nepal

JAN 17 TRIP POSTPONED, DETAILS TO FOLLOW SOON

please contact Jeff for questions oikosdesign@gmail.com

Instructor: Jeff Empfield

http://http://sites.google.com/site/oikosdesign/Home

Tuition: $10/day as your guide. Other costs such as room, board, and transportation are remarkably inexpensive in Nepal.

Participants needed to assist in the establishment of a Natural Building Program in Nepal

Several opportunities exist in Nepal that point to the need for establishing a program focused on natural building. The primary needs are rural development, the problem of modern high-embodied energy materials replacing traditional natural materials in Nepal, and the world-wide need for a return to more natural, vernacular building systems. Rural development will come in the form of eco-tourist activity, a new destination (Natural Building Center) in a Himalayan trekking region, and a new form of income for guides and craftsman builders.

People from all over the world travel to Nepal and are impressed by the natural building traditions there. During a months-long visit this past winter I researched an article on timber framing and the masonry/timber building system of Nepal published this June in Timber Framing: The Journal of the Timber Framers Guild. The proposed program in Nepal will facilitate foreign travelers who want to learn more about natural building and it will help Nepali people see the value of their natural building traditions. It will do so simply by existing, by drawing attention to the appeal of naturally-built environments and building skills. Perhaps more significantly, it will provide income related to guiding, interpreting, guesthouse visitation, and natural building instruction.

In January the focus will be on a demonstration project at Seti Valley Integrated Organic Farm which is located 12km northwest of Pokhara (www.sadpnepal.org). Mr. Ramesh Sharma wants help building a demonstration cob building. Clay-based plaster and earthen ovens are traditional and still common in Nepal. Mr. Sharma reports that Nepali people are turning away from such traditional material in favor of concrete, however. He wants to construct a building as “demonstration so people can learn about the value of such building but it should be new and attractive design.”

I’ve recently been contacted by Mr. Gokul Gurung of the Annapurna Eco Village Resort, also near Pokhara, who has similar concerns and interest in developing natural buildings and education programs of some kind. More on that as communication continues.

I have established partnerships with several Nepalis who work in tourism and are interested in taking their industry and country in a better direction. One is from a family who operates a guesthouse in the Rolwaling area, west of the Everest region. This family guesthouse will serve as a Natural Building Center with a small library. It will be the base for natural building-themed treks with access to a network of area builders. During the first half of February, we will travel to Suri Dobhan village to do the initial research for establishing the center. Once established, it will provide information regarding what building projects are underway in the area as well as contact information for participating builders. They will constitute a network of area builders who will be Natural Building Center partners in working with visitors. The network of area craftspeople can provide demonstrations and explanations of what they do for a small fee and provide a year-round attraction for interested tourists. This network can also create income for locals who organize, guide, and translate for eco-tourists.

The Natural Building Program in Nepal will also include special programs organized periodically such as river trips that would take extra time to explore and document isolated villages. In the later half of February we will make a 270km trip on the Sunkosi river with extra days set aside for architectural exploration. Students of architecture and anthropology, architects, and architectural historians as well as natural builders would be interested in this “documenting villages river trip.” These architectural expeditions have the potential for leading to short documentary films and both popular and academic articles.

These are tentative plans with great potential. Participants can play a role in developing this program. Details are to be worked out depending on who gets involved. Come for the entire month and a half or for the weeks that interest you most. You will love Nepal.