[Scpg] 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 and 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.