Archive for March, 2010

[ July 11, 2010 to July 16, 2010. ] This five-day course will teach the art of building with natural stone and the intelligence and logic behind it. The goal is to build a series of sculptural elements culminating in an arched entryway. Class discussions will include the science behind an arch and engineering the wooden form for its support while under construction. Taking [...]

[ August 17, 2010 to August 25, 2010. ] Learn traditional English stone masonry techniques. In the garden of an estate in the remote and magical English countryside, near a stone bridge reputed to be 3000 years old, and among hills with cairns, burial mounds, and sacred circles, this class will focus on building two complex, sloped retaining walls with double-faced walls [...]

[ September 12, 2010 to September 17, 2010. ] Start Date / End Date:: 9/12/10-9/17/10This class will provide a basic introduction to the use of slate as a roofing material. Students will visit a slate quarry for a first-hand look at how slate is removed from the ground, split and trimmed to size. Students will then discuss slate roof design, prepare the [...]

[ May 8, 2010 to May 15, 2010. ] Start Date / End Date:: May 8 – May 15, 2010Join us for a week of natural building and living in the beautiful Texas Hill County outside of Austin. Professional builders Kindra, John and Sara will take a week off from their packed building schedules to share their passion and knowledge of cob construction. [...]

[ May 29, 2010 to May 31, 2010. ] Learn the basics of mud, w/an emphasis on plasters. Identify and mix various muds for covering existing walls and buildings; sculptural mud for shaping and decorative ornaments; natural (fireproof!) insulating mud; mud for natural colors and paints; and cob or adobe mud for walls, ovens hearths and entire homes. Yurt weaving, begun May [...]

[ May 1, 2010 to May 2, 2010. ] May 1-2- Weave a Willow Building, $50/day
This continues a project begun last October with Yurt Master William Coperthwaite, who led the frame and roof raising of the beautiful, two-tiered wood yurt. Now we start weaving the willow wattle walls, so that later in May we can apply mud to weatherproof and insulate (see separate [...]

[ May 8, 2010 to May 15, 2010. ] This is an 8-day, intensive cob workshop. We will be learning not only the basics of mixing and building with cob, but will be studying how to integrate windows, and a door frame into the building. Students will build a cob archway, and will get the opportunity for sculpting shelving and niches in the interior [...]

[ May 21, 2010 to May 23, 2010. ] Learn the basics behind mixing and building with cob. We will spend most of the weekend getting muddy at our cob mixing site, learning how to make an appropriate mix out of the most local materials.

This is the fourth cob workshop, so we will be applying the last of the cob, with consideration of how [...]

[ May 28, 2010 to May 30, 2010. ] Learn about all the layers of an earthen floor, and how to apply them. Students will get hands-on experience in laying the first two (of three) layers of the floor – how to make the mix, and how to pour/level it.

Because the sub-floor then needs to dry for a number of weeks, we will not [...]

[ June 4, 2010 to June 6, 2010. ]

Equally as important for a house as the foundation is the roof. Get hands-on experience in installing a low-cost, living (green) roof.

The Friday night presentation will cover the basic concepts behind a green roof (pros and cons), as well as an introduction to design of the one we will be building over the weekend. We [...]

[ April 30, 2010 to May 2, 2010. ] Learn the basics behind mixing and building with cob. We will spend most of the weekend getting muddy at our cob mixing site, learning how to make an appropriate mix out of the most local materials.

This is the second cob workshop, so we will be applying cob a couple feet up the wall, and beginning [...]

[ April 2, 2010 to April 3, 2010. ] Learn the basics behind mixing and building with cob. We will spend most of the time getting muddy at our cob mixing site, learning how to make an appropriate mix out of the most local materials.

Workshop Schedule
7:00pm to 8:30pm Friday
9:00am to 4:00pm Saturday (lunch provided)

[ April 9, 2010 to April 11, 2010. ] Familiarize yourself with the concepts behind a rubble trench foundation. On Friday night, you will see a photo presentation documenting the digging of the foundation trench. Over the weekend, experience hands-on work as we do flow-testing on the trench, lay gravel, install drain-pipe, and ready the foundation for the masonry stemwall that will be built [...]

[ April 16, 2010 to April 18, 2010. ] Arguably the most important part of a structure is its foundation. For a material like cob, the foundation is especially important because there is no going back to fix it once tons and tons of material is sitting on top of it – it must be done right the first time.Our Friday night presentation will [...]

[ April 23, 2010 to April 25, 2010. ] Learn the basics behind mixing and building with cob. We will spend most of the weekend getting muddy at our cob mixing site, learning how to make an appropriate mix out of the most local materials.

We will be applying the first cob to the structure, and so will be talking about how to make a [...]