Complete Cob Sauna (Foundation to Roof) in the Azores Islands, Portugal (Advanced Cobber Certification)

PROJECT

We will be building a complete 6m2 to 7m2 sauna (depending on number of students) from foundation to roof in 3 weeks with 15 days of workshop learning and weekends for relaxation and exploring.

In this workshop, students will learn all the skills and knowledge offered in the longer Advanced Training on a smaller scale. It is a more affordable and less time-intensive opportunity to get a complete cob building experience, though clearly with much less practice time than with a larger structure and longer workshop. Still, students will leave trained and skilled and confident to build themselves a cob building

SCHEDULE

The 3-week Sauna Cob Building Workshop begins on Sunday, July 4th, 2021 at 4pm and ends on Sunday, July 25th, 2021 at 2pm.

International or non-island students should arrive a day or two before to acclimate and settle in before the workshop begins.

The workshop schedule will be:

Days 1-3: Foundation and Floor (1st coat)

Days 4-8: Wall

Days 9-10: Sculpting and Plaster

Days 11-13: Roof

Days 14-15: Floor (2nd coat) & Finish

The daily schedule will be:

8:30 Morning Circle

8:45-1:00 Building

1:00-1:30 Lunch

1:30-2:30 Lecture

2:30-5:30 Building

COURSE CONTENTS
Students will earn the Advanced Cobber Certification as they will learn every phase of building a cob building from foundation through the roof in lectures/theory and daily hands-on construction. While the course is shorter and the building smaller than our usual 5-week Advanced Cobber Certification workshop, we will still complete all the elements though on a smaller and more minimalist scale.  A longer workshop allows for more experiences and details and practice time, and a shorter workshop is more affordable and less time and energy-intensive. In addition, there will be one night per week of slides/videos during the workshop.

Our hands-on practice will include:

digging foundation trench
pouring gravel and inserting drainage pipe (if applicable)
building stone & lime mortar foundation stemwall
analyzing soils and materials
making test bricks
deciding on correct mixture
deciding on best location
making cob w/ partner and solo
building with cob
preparing and inserting the door frame
preparing and inserting fixed window and opening window frame
preparing and inserting shelves
inserting bottle windows and other objects
inserting electrical outlet and plumbing pipe
sculpting
preparing and applying earthen plasters (1 coat)
pouring an earthen floor (2 layers)
preparing walls for roof connection
building reciprocal roof frame
building wooden roof decking/sheathing & green roof covering

REQUIREMENTS & IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Students will need to come to class/building site prepared.

This includes:

Work clothes

Work boots or other closed-toe shoes

Flip-flops for cobbing days

Rubber dishwashing gloves (for lime mortar)

Work Gloves

Good Moisturizer

Hat

Sunglasses

Safety Glasses

Water Bottle

Notebook/Pen/Camera

Sample of Your Soil (Optional)

Please read “The Hand-Sculpted House” by Ianto Evans, Linda Smiley and Michael Smith before the workshop and bring with you.  I is still the one and only Cob Bible!!!

Weather in July is wonderfully hot and enjoyable and usually does not rain much, but can always be drizzly too. So please bring your raingear and beachwear! Temperatures will be in the mid to high 70’s but could be hotter. And very comfortable at night.

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS

Locals can Google “Clinica Veterinaria São Miguel” on Rua das Mercês and park on the street and walk up the dirt Canada das Mercês  a few minutes to the Quinta da Vida Beleza on the left, with a bright yellow painted gate.

Coming form Europe, you can fly with Azores Airlines, TAP or Ryan Air.  These are the main airlines flying here with Ryan Air being the cheapest, especially from Lisbon (20€/one way minimum).  If it works out, I may pick you up or else just take a taxi to your accommodations.

Coming from the North America, direct flights are only from Boston and Toronto with Azores Airlines/SATA. Check TAP too. That being said you can book with Azores Airlines or TAP from anywhere in the US to connect in Boston or buy two separate tickets.  You can also fly to Lisbon or Porto (much nicer) and then take RyanAir to Ponta Delgada.  NorwegianAir is super cheap especially off-season and flies from the US to Barcelona and Madrid from which you can take RyanAir to PDL.

For students wanting to stay on and explore other islands, SATA airlines connects all the islands year-round.

While on the island, it is recommended to have a bicycle, which you can to rent from Claudine, or share a rental car with other students for a possibly very low fee of 2€/day with Goldcar! There is a very good bus system as well.

MEALS & ACCOMMODATIONS

Students will be fed 3 high-quality vegetarian meals from Monday through Friday, with lunch & dinner prepared by a professional chef.

There are also two houses with two bedrooms each, oceanfront balconies, kitchens, washing machines and wifi only a 5-minute walk to the land. Please let me know if you want to rent them asap.   There is also the very sweet Hotel Arcanjo also in the same neighborhood. And two restaurants and a small food store. The big supermarket is a 10-minute walk away and the natural pools are right there. Let us know and we can help.

INSTRUCTOR

Claudine Desiree is the original “Cob Queen” of Santa Cruz, where she founded the original “Sunflower Cob Building” which quickly morphed into the California-based “Cruzin’ Cob”, the cob workshop and building business that evolved over a decade.  Once her three sons were “out of the house”, she went for her dream of traveling around the world on a bike teaching cob workshops everywhere every few months to continue supporting herself by offering up what she loves in the countries and languages she is passionate about.  To work internationally with no home base required a new name and a website, hence CruzinCobGlobal was born naturally and appropriately and, after 5 years on the road, Claudine has finally found a new home….for now.  On the island of São Miguel in the Azores (where are the Azores?) she has started building an eco homestead for family and friends called “Quinta da Vida Beleza” for chillin’, playing music, dancing and communing!!!!  CruzinCobGlobal will continue to do the important work of building the best houses and best communities ever of course… with more new Teachers hitting the Cob road in 2021 as CCG-trained students begin leading workshops and builds around the world. Claudine will also keep teaching in her favorite places and spreading the Cob everywhere, with more focus on the Azores land and project now, but also very interested in working in Africa and Asia.  California, however, will always be one of those favorite places, her and her children’s home for 20 years. And the demand to learn Cob in California is always growing with the fires and earthquakes threatening conventional houses.  And the best part is we have a “legal” Cob Code to use anywhere in the world thanks to the CRI architects’ and engineers’ hard work and focus!
REGISTRATION & PAYMENT

The fee for the 21-day Complete Sauna Build will be 1600€ which includes tuition, 2 snacks & 3 meals/day on workshop days. On weekends students will provide their own meals.

Very Early Bird Discount: 1400€, pay, in full by March 4th, 2021

Early Bird Discount: 1500€, pay in full by May 4th, 2021

There is a maximum limit of 15 students.

To register please contact claudine@cruzincobglobal.org to receive application forms and payment information. To hold your spot in this training you will need to pay the full amount or a 50% deposit that will be non-refundable after June 4th, 2021.  The balance will be due by June 20th, two weeks before the start date.

For students coming from the US, depending on the COVID requirements, Claudine will be able to write an official registration letter to enable your entry into the Azores.

Please note: If you cancel before June 4th you will get a full refund or credit towards another workshop within 2 years. If you cancel after June 4th you will only get a credit and forfeit 10% of your payment or 150€ for the last-minute cancellation.

We always offer work trades in our workshops depending on size of workshop. Here we will offer 4 work trades, two in the kitchen (making breakfast) and two onsite helping prep before breakfast. These work trades are for one hour per day of work in exchange for a 10€ discount per workshop day.  In this case work trader would receive 150€ off of the full price of 1600€, with 50% down to hold their spot and the balance due by  June 20th, 2021. Please inquire asap because these spots go first.

You can also contact Claudine by Whatsapp at +18312127225 for questions and registration.

Estudantes locais das ilhas e portugueses favor de contactar claudine@cruzincobglobal.org ou 964746071 para informações de inscrição e pagamento reduzido! Estudantes com formacão podem ser oferecido trabalho pagado depois da formacão no terreno ou em outro projeto e/ou como asistente em outros cursos de CCG.

SEE YOU IN THE MUD!!!…NOS VEMOS NO BARRO!!!