[Sdpg] Roadtrip to Calearth Sat Dec 6, 2003

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

hi Everyone
this is to wet your appetite for annual trip by the South Coast
Permaculture Guild to Hesperia Ca to see the Earth domes and Houses of
Architect Nader Khalili.Saturday Dec 6, Roadtrip to visit visionary
Architect Nader Khalili at  Calearth in Hesperia Ca. This is an all day 
annual trip to visit the
demonstration  site,and the Nature Center, all using earth architecture to 
build them.

This is an amazing adventure to see what can be done with earth. Come and
see low cost beautiful housing that does not tax the earth's biological
resources.

We will leave Santa Barbara at 6:30am arriving around 10am (via
Ventura (stop Ventura at Carrillo's on Seaward Ave for carpool) and onto 
Hwy 126 to Hwy 5 then Hwy 14 onward) and be back by 6 pm. for more info 
call Wes Roe 805-964-1555 or email lakinroe at silcom.com, potluck
lunch, those from LA check directions from Website and we will try to
connect folks who want to carpool from LA area.

Check his Website for pictures of the Earth buildings and more info and
article below
www.Calearth.org
http://www.Calearth.org/whatnew/hstar1.htm
Hesperia Star
.
Inventor teaches the world to build sturdy houses
No less mystic than the earthen domes he constructs in Hesperia or the
Persian poet Rumi who inspired him to shift from designing skyscrapers to
building with adobe, Nader Khalili's ideas are gaining international 
attention.
Imagine building a beautiful home with high, arched ceilings out of little
more than water, some barbed wire and the dirt in your own backyard for
about $1,500, then finishing it off with tile, ornate windows and a few
furnishings, all for a total of $7,000, excluding labor. Single room domes
are even less and can be constructed in a matter of days.
"My work is to create the most beautiful structures out of the simplest
materials," Khalili said.
Students, artists, architects, environmentalists and writers from all over
the world have converged upon Hesperia to rediscover the simple power of
earth, air, water, and fire (heat from the sun) - the only ingredients
necessary for Khalili's fire-proof, flood and earthquake resistant domes.
Khalili's California Institute of Earth, Art and Architecture (Cal-Earth)
has even gained the attention of United Nations researchers.
One U.N. official said the ceramic domes are ideal for environmental
refugees, disaster-ridden areas and people who live in slum housing because
Khalili's superadobe eliminates many of the obstacles aid agencies face
when providing assistance.
"The cost is really low," said Nassrine Azimi, chief of the United Nations
Institute for Training and Research in New York. "I presume if the
technology were perfected it could compete with the cost of a tent, and
that is tremendous. We think it has the potential to absolutely change the
way many aid agencies work."
Several years ago, five Iraqui refugees built 14 of the domes in six days
Another benefit of Khalili's superadobe is that it can be expanded as
conditions grow more stable, Azimi said.
Now, Khalili is currently constructing what he calls, "Earth 1," a typical
American home, with three bedrooms, a two-car garage, and a few other
advantages. "It's the standard American dream house," Khalili said. "It's
also fireproof, hurricane resistant and earthquake resistant."
Although Hesperia building official Tom Harp was skeptical when Khalili
first arrived in town and applied for a permit to construct his domes in
1991, he said he has been pleasantly surprised by the structures' sturdiness.
The buildings, which are constructed out of nearly 1-foot wide walls made
out of long sandbags filled with dirt, water, and perhaps a little cement
for more permanent structures, withstood the city's wind and earthquake
standards.
"Quite frankly, I didn't think he would meet building codes when he first
started off on the whole venture," Harp said. "The buildings all stood up
to the tests engineered. I would not have guessed that would have happened."
City officials reported receiving inquiries on the Cal-Earth Institute from
other countries, including Japan and South Africa.
"There's been a lot of interest with the International Conference of
Building Officials," Harp said.
"It is considering developing a section in the building code to address
alternative types of construction. There's a big movement for green
construction, types of construction that are less damaging to the
environment, and you can't get much greener than earthen construction."
Because Khalili's concept requires no trees to be cut down and can be built
from materials available everywhere, he hopes his ceramic domes will become
the housing for the new millenium, both here on earth and perhaps
eventually in lunar and Martian colonies.
"What we are teaching (people) is they can go to any place in this world,
dig and build themselves and others in the community a home using earth,
sun, wind and the natural elements," Khalili said. "While here, they
discover their own creative potential."
His students come from different walks of life, courses of study and even
different countries, but many share similar experiences at Cal-Earth.
Frank Mallat of Indio hopes to build his dream house out of superadobe.
"I've been an environmentalist for thirty years, and my wife and I bought
70 acres in Desert Hot Springs. We'll build our own house and well our own
water," he said.
Amid the otherworldly appearance of the domes, students create from their
own sweat and hands, many find more than what they were looking for when
they first arrived.
"It's opened me up to a lot more out there," Elizabeth Muniz, a 3-D art
student from Visalia, said. "It's put me more in touch with nature."
Emiko Peterson, an architectural student of Anaheim, said the opportunity
to study at Cal-Earth has opened her horizons to things she didn't learn in
school.
"I guess they teach more about form-making, like massive sculptures,"
Peterson said of traditional architectural school. "What I'm learning here
has a more spiritual quality and more meaningful form."
Some students come to learn Khalili's technique, but never leave, like
painter-turned-superadobe teacher Michael Huskey of Apple Valley and
Khalili's associate, Iliona Outram, an architect from London.
Huskey found a more meaningful art medium in the domes, he said. Outram who
is also the daughter of a British architect, always wanted to learn earth
architecture.
"I met him and one month later I moved to Hesperia. That was nine years
ago," Outram said. "The joy of the work and the inspiration Nader gives are
worthwhile for humanity. Instead of just being an architect, I wanted to do
something for the environment."
The public may vist Cal-Earth during its open house offered on the first
Saturday of every month.
For more information on Cal-Earth or Nader Khalili, visit www.calearth.org,
or call (760)244-0614.