Jim Hallock, Monica Healy, and Jeff Rottler are pleased to invite you to participate in our impending earth building workshop given in conjunction with Joe Tibbets of Southwest Solar Adobe, and Lawrence Jetter of Advanced Earthen Construction Technologies. The workshop will take place November 9, 10, and 11, 2007 at the Best Western Shetland Inn, 3602 S.E. Military Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78223.
One Half
“It is estimated that at least 30 per cent of the world’s population, ,some 1.5 billion people, live in houses constructed of raw (unfired) earth”. 1
“Even today, it is estimated that between a third and a half of the world’s population lives in earthen dwellings.” 2
“40 % of the world population lives in earthen dwellings” 3
1.Earth building in Britain – international context and historical background, by R. Nother, with an introduction by L. Keefe. Earth Building, p. 7
2. Smith, Michael, The History of Cob, http://www.networkearth.org/naturalbuilding/history.html
3. http://www.earth-auroville.com/index.php
this does not take into account buildings that people work or worship in or buildings that are not occupied, such as dove cotes, grainaries, etc.
Cob
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/survey_does_des.php
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/cob_building_go.php
LEHM 2008 – Call for Papers
The Dachverband Lehm e.V. is the German Association for Building with Earth. Every four years the DVL organises an international conference and trade fair on building with earth in a different earth building region in Germany together with an excursion in the region. After the conferences in 1994, 1997, 2000 and 2004, the LEHM 2008 is the 5th such event organised by the Dachverband Lehm e.V. Each of these events has attracted several thousand visitors. In addition to organising a high-profile conference programme, a central aspect is the presentation of new innovations in earth building products and technologies through a trade fair that takes place parallel to the conference. For more information visit the conference website.
Trilogy
10th International Conference on the Study and Conservation of Earthen Architecture
The 10th International Conference on the Study and Conservation of Earthen Architecture will be held in February 2008 in Bamako, Mali, West Africa. The conference is organized by the Getty Conservation Institute and the Ministry of Culture of Mali with the collaboration of Africa 2009, CRATerre-ENSAG , ICOMOS South Africa, and the World Heritage Centre, under the aegis of ICOMOS and its International Scientific Committee on the Earthen Architectural Heritage. Three hundred international specialists in the fields of earthen architecture, conservation, archaeology, scientific research and site management are expected to attend.
Earth Building Project
The Earth Building Project is a blog relating to a Scientific project held at Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia.
Vitruvius on Adobe
In the only architectural treatise surviving from Classical Antiquity, Vitruvius: Ten Books on Architecture refers in some detail to adobe, describing suitable earth and suggesting that adobes should be made in the spring and left for at least two years to dry. He mentions that building by-laws in Utica (near Carhage) specify that only adobes of five years old be used for building, to be so certified by the aedile (magistrate).
Kerry Hill
Singapore-based Australian Kerry Hill is regarded as one of the best regional architects utilising natural rammed earth, timber and stone that exude an almost monastic ambience. Built on the banks of WA’s Margaret River, Hill’s Ooi house (above) is a single-storey, three bedroom holiday residence with a guest chalet intended to be the first of several.
Cob Building in Europe
The Cotentin and Bessin Marshlands Regional Nature Park in France proposes to
create one moment of exchanges on cob building. A conference entitled “Cob
Building in Europe” is scheduled for the 12, 13 and 14th of October 2006, in
Isigny-sur-mer, Normandy, France. Download conference the program here