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EBUK 2014: Earth Building United Kingdom Conference

The 2014 EBUK conference “Training in Earth Building: from design to construction” will be held in Norwich on 14th February 2014. The broad conference theme includes education and training in building with earth, training in the structural and thermal design of earth buildings, training in safe and reliable construction methods and in the appropriate use of earth as a building material. The conference will showcase design, construction, conservation and research in the UK. Papers and presenters will engage with the conference theme and broader context of building with earth in the UK.

www.ebuk.uk.com

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SIACOT Chile 2013

El 13° Seminario Iberoamericano de Arquitectura y Construcción con Tierra (SIACOT) Valparaíso 2013, promovido por la Red Iberoamericana PROTERRA y organizado por el instituto profesional Duoc UC de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile a través de su carrera de Restauración Patrimonial, tiene como finalidad reunir a los científicos, profesionales y técnicos que trabajan en torno al tema de la arquitectura, conservación y construcción con tierra, interesados por los amplios potenciales de este material. Se trata de una oportunidad de difusión y discusión, donde se evaluarán el estado actual de la investigación científica, de los proyectos, e innovaciones tecnológicas en marcha, así como los avances globales de la difusión de esta temática.

www.siacotchile2013.cl

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Afghan Refugee Housing

Rai Studio and Architecture for Humanity Tehran, in collaboration with the Norwegian Refugee Council, have recently completed an adobe construction prototype intended for Afghan refugees living in Kerman, close to the centre of Iran.

Built in an Afghan Refugee Camp in Kerman, Iran, the 100 meter square meter domed shelter is comprised of approximately 6,000 mud bricks.

Pouya Khazaeli, principal of Rai Studio and architecture professor at Azad University, Tehran and Ghazvin, notes: “Social sustainability in design is our main focus area here. It means to study how these refugees live, communicate, the meaning of privacy in their live, which materials they prefer and use for construction, which kind of construction techniques they use themselves, how much they spend normally to construct their own shelters….”

Read more at Domus

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Earth Prism

Architect Sean Connelly’s installation A Small Area of Land (Kaka‘ako Earth Room), a “temporary earth sculpture” made from 32,000 pounds of volcanic soil and coral sand, can currently be seen at the ii gallery in Honolulu, Hawaii. The sculpture is a prismatic monolith with dimensions 7′ tall, 9′ long, and 4′ wide, and it features a single sloping surface that aligns with the position of the sun and moon on a key date in the history of land in Hawaii.

Over the course of the exhibit, the sculpture slowly falls apart as Connelly wanted to see “what a version of this might look like in Hawaii, on Hawaii’s terms.”

More at BLDGBLOG

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Kerpic’13

The third International Conference on kerpic’13 – New Generation Earthen Architecture: Learning from Heritage, to be held on 11-14 September 2013, in Istanbul, Turkey. The focus of the conference has evolved from new generation of earthen architecture, environment and health care, towards disaster prevention. We hope that it will bring together the related disciplines of architects and engineers, on material, construction, marketing and environmental science to create database, technology watch and strategy.

A workshop will be organized on site where all the participants can take part. Social and cultural program will offer an interesting historical tour and a distinguished dinner will welcome you. Post Congress program will be a tour to various sites of Turkey. Fore more information visit http://www.kerpic.org/2013/

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Earth USA 2013

Earth USA 2013 is the Seventh International Conference on Architecture and Construction with Earthen Materials initiated by Earth USA. The conference organizer is Adobe in Action.

The formal conference will take place on October 4 and 5, 2013 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. October 6th will be dedicated to local earthbuilding tours and excursions. The conference is being held at the New Mexico Museum of Art in the St. Francis Auditorium (107 West Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501). Earth USA 2013 indicates a wider field of interest than previous conferences and will include adobe, rammed earth, compressed earth block (CEB) and monolithic adobe (cob). Any material or method that uses clay as a binder is considered.

Earth USA 2013 is now accepting abstract submissions (due April 14, 2013) for conference presentations. For more information visit http://earthusa.org/

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Glendale Childcare Center

Located in Glendale, California, the 23,000 square-foot childcare facility, designed by Marmol Radziner, accommodates 236 children between infant and Pre-K ages. The complex is the first LEED Gold Certified building in Glendale, and is the largest rammed earth building in Southern California. The sustainable strategies incorporated into the building, including photovoltaic panel canopies and structural rammed earth walls, are key visual and tactile elements in the design, emphasizing the facility as both a learning environment and an educational tool.

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Hassan Fathy’s New Gourna

Hassan Fathy’s New Gourna from Oliver Wilkins on Vimeo.

The village of New Gourna was designed and built in the 1940s by the Egyptian Architect Hassan Fathy. He pioneered the use of sustainable materials and environmentally friendly design to build housing for low income families who were being relocated from their original village at Old Gourna.
60 years later, many of the now historic New Gourna buildings have fallen into disrepair and others have disappeared or been changed beyond recognition. A project is underway to safeguard the site, and World Monuments Fund (WMF) commissioned us to produce a film presenting the perspective of the residents…

For more information about WMF’s work at New Gourna, see wmf.org/project/new-gourna-village