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

[Pierre Constans]

>From: Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson <lakinroe at silcom.com>
>Reply-To: scpg at arashi.com
>To: scpg at arashi.com, sdpg at arashi.com, ccpg at arashi.com
>Subject: SCPG ROADTRIP TO CALEARTH SAT NOV 4/2000| Dome, Sweet Dome -  
>Inventor teaches world to build sturdy houses |
>Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 22:36:56 -0700
>
>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 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 and be back by 6 pm. 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

Wes, Marjo,

I'm back from Arcata. Had an interesting trip and consultation. Count me in  
for Dome sweet Dome. Where can I meet you on the Way . Seward Av in  Ventura 
?  Confirm the time and place please. Regards, Pierre.




>      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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