SCPG ROADTRIP TO CALEARTH SAT NOV 4/2000| Dome, Sweet Dome - Inventor teaches world to build sturdy houses |

[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 Nov. 4 Roadtrip to visit visionary Architect Nader 
Khalili at
Calearth in Hesperia Ca. this is an all day annual trip to visit the 
demonstration
site, the Nature Center and new housing in Hesperia all using earth 
architecture to
build them. This is an amazing adventure see what can be done with earth
and it is truly low cost beautiful housing that does not tax the earth's 
biological
resources. we will leave Santa Barbara at 6:30am . for more info call Wes Roe
964-1555 or email lakinroe at silcom.com, potluck lunch
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




Nader Khalili shows off the inside of one of the dome houses he has built 
at the Cal-Earth facility in Hesperia. Khalili came to Hesperia a few years 
ago to teach others his techniques.

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.






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