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Build a Cob Outdoor Kitchen & Oven near Pucón, Chile
February 2, 2020 ∞ 8:45 am - March 1, 2020 ∞ 5:30 pm
$2000
***Course will be taught in English or in English & Spanish depending on student needs.***
HOST & LOCATION
CruzinCobGlobal will be returning to Chile for a second Cob building workshop offering you a transformational educational opportunity, an escape from the northern hemisphere winter for the month of February, and a chance to visit one of the most beautiful places in the world. We will be hosted by Damián Walker, a multi-talented chef, local restaurant owner, interior and furniture designer focused on reusing materials in new ways different from their original use. Damián has chosen to live in the awe-inspiring Pucón region of Chile, surrounded by volcanoes, hot springs, lakes, national parks, forests, rivers and an endless green landscape in summer because of his big love for the nature here.
Damián shares 10 hectares with 8 other families, 2 of which are communal, in which there are forests and an estuary, pristine drinking water and no fences. All the families share a common vision of living as self-sufficiently and sustainably as possible for maximum independence, growing their food, tending to animals, producing their energy, etc. We will be building the first structure on the land at the same time that other builders will be beginning the foundation and wood framing for his light clay straw home.
The land is situated between Pucón and Villarrica, a very popular summer vacation spot as well as a ski center in the winter. The workshop will be starting during the middle of the high tourist season which peters out mid-February. There are many activities for the weekends, mostly in the nature, but also in the lively towns where people from all over Chile and beyond like to hang out.
PROJECT
This Intermediate Cobber Certification Course will build the semi-circular cob wall and a reciprocal frame (or other) green roof of an outdoor kitchen along with a cob oven and bench. One third of the outdoor kitchen will have full-height cob walls and one-third will have partial walls and one-third will be open. The reciprocal frame green roof will extend on the opening side, supported by additional posts, to cover an outdoor seating area. The foundation and roof-supporting posts will be built before the workshop. Lectures will cover foundation even though we will not be building the foundation for the building but we WILL build the bench foundation and part of the oven foundation. While the Intermediate Level workshops take 28 days to complete the building since the foundation is done beforehand, because we will not be enclosing the structure, it will take only 3 of the weeks which will give us the time to build an oven and benches connected to the building. Lectures always cover everything.
Below is a model of what will be built in the workshop minus the roof!
INTERMEDIATE COB BUILDING WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
The 28-day Intermediate Cob Building Workshop consists of 20 days of theoretical instruction (in English or English & Spanish depending on student needs) with lectures & graphics
and construction for 4 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon.
Students arrive on Sunday and the Course begins at 4pm before Dinner with an Introduction to the Site and the Project. Dinner is served at 6pm followed by an Introduction to the 4-week workshop and schedule. Monday morning we begin cobbing!
Following Breakfast, the morning session lasts 4 hours with a 20-minute snack pause. Lunch break lasts 1.5 hours which includes rest time before the 3-hour afternoon session begins. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays there is a 60-minute lecture, followed by construction. Tuesdays and Thursdays we start building right after the rest time. After class in the afternoon there is a 90-minute break before dinner, in which students are encouraged to stretch, do yoga, relax. There is often someone officially or informally leading yoga or some other movement practice in the morning and/or afternoon. There will also be 3-4 evenings (once a week) after dinner for showing
slides, videos and having Course-related discussions.
This Intermediate Course will offer practical learning by building a 12m2-15m2 (depending on number of students) curvilinear building. Since the foundation will already be prepared, the Reciprocal Roof Structure, Oven and Bench foundations and Floor will begin in week 1. The Cob Wall will be built in weeks 2 and 3 and will include opening and fixed windows, shelves, a countertop, niches, artistic inserts (bottles, wood, etc), sculpting, electrical, plumbing, and the roof connection. In Week 3 the Oven will be continued and Roof Sheathing attached as well as other details. In Week 4, we will plaster the wall, build the Green Roof covering, finish the Oven and pour the second floor coat. Lots done in this month! And lots of learning too! Come prepared and rested!
Those who complete the 28-day Workshop will receive an Intermediate Cobber Certificate of
Completion for Cob Walls, Floor, Plaster & Roof. Students in this workshop will also learn how to build a Cob Oven & Bench, which does not have a Certificate, but will include foundation.
SCHEDULE
The Intermediate Cob Building Workshop begins on Sunday, February 2, 2020 at 4pm with the Opening Circle and Introduction to Site & Project, the Welcome Dinner and Introduction to the Course. It ends on Sunday, March 1, 2020 after the Closing Circle & Lunch.
Students can arrive a day or two before to acclimate and settle in but will need to
cover their own food needs unless a work trade is accepted by Host.
The daily schedule (subject to slight modifications due to climate) will be:
6:30-7:30 Meditation/Yoga (voluntary)
7:30-8:30 Breakfast
8:45-1:00 Class
1:00-2:30 Lunch
2:30-5:30 Class
5:30-7:00 Rest/Yoga
7:00-8:00 Dinner
8:00-9:00 Slides/Videos/Discussion (once a week)
COURSE CONTENTS
Students will learn every phase of building a cob building from foundation through the roof in
lectures/theory. In addition to the lectures, slideshows and videos will be shown to support and
enhance their understanding of cob materials, cob building, design, geography , budgeting,
business options and legal issues. Students will receive an Intermediate Cobber Certificate, images of all the teaching posters by email and the CruzinCobGlobal Handbook, which is a summary of the workshop building steps, upon Graduation.
Our hands-on practice will include:
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 fixed and opening windows
preparing and inserting shelves
inserting bottle windows, niches and other objects
inserting electrical wiring and plumbing in walls
sculpting
preparing and applying earthen plaster (1 coat)
pouring an earthen floor
preparing walls for roof connection
making small-scale cob designs of future projects, time permitting
building a foundation for the oven and bench
building and plastering an oven and bench
In addition to Cob Building practices, the Course material also includes:
legal issues about cob
cost analysis
creating a cob business (building/teaching)
assisting, interning and teaching with CruzinCobGlobal
REQUIREMENTS & IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Students will need to come prepared for demanding physical work from Day 1. This includes:
Work clothes appropriate for the country and climate we are in
Work boots or other closed-toe shoes
Flip-flops for cobbing days
Rubber dishwashing gloves (for lime mortar)
Work Gloves
Tape Measure
Box Cutter
Carving Knife
Wood Hand Saw (cheap), Level (2ft), Hammer (if possible)
Ear Plugs (roof week)
4”-6” Diameter Round Plastic Container Lids (plastering)
Good Moisturizer
Hat
Sunglasses
Safety Glasses
Water Bottle
Notebook/Pen/Camera
Sample of Your Soil (Optional)
Students are required to read “The Hand-Sculpted House” before the workshop begins and any
other book they find, as well as watching videos on YouTube, especially the ones posted on
CruzinCobGlobal’s website under Cob Stories as well as in the Gallery to get an idea of what is
expected. Please bring your book(s) and any other books to share as well as slideshows, videos, movies and downloaded building site music playlists!!! If you are a qualified teacher or leader in something beneficial to our month-long time together, and would like to offer it up, please don’t hesitate to speak to the Instructors before or during the Course! We are open to non-cob activities in the evenings and at night…if the energy is there of course!
!
Students must tend to their own personal needs, drink alot of water, rest when needed and exert
themselves at a steady pace. Students who cannot do the strenuous physical work should let us know before the workshop begins so we can adjust appropriately. It is totally OK to come for the lecture/theory part, and then help the building part in less physically demanding ways, ie cutting straw, sifting for plaster, hammering nails into frames or shelves, sculpting, plastering, cutting bottles. There is alot to do besides making and building with cob!!!!
Finally, please bring a watch or use your phone to be prompt and ready for each part of the Course including meals. Feel free to share your dietary requirements with CCG or the Host and bring your essential snacks and foods, pillow and whatever you NEED to be comfortable and happy. In this workshop you will be camping for a month, unless you would like to pay for indoor accommodations which could be organized though transportation could be an issue. Staying together keeps the group cohesive and on schedule but we are open to helping you out!
TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS
For non-Chileans arriving by plane, you can fly into Santiago and continue on to Temuco by plane for an hour (only USD$10 one way on Jetsmart when checked on 12/7!!!!). From Temuco you will take a minibus for 1.5 hours to Villarrica ($19). The other option is taking a 9-11 hour overnight bus (USD$28) from Santiago to Villarrica or possibly carpooling with Chilean students. All students will be picked up by Host in Villarrica, only 17km or a 20-minute drive to the site. American, United, Delta, LanChile have the best fares from the US. If you have frequent flyer miles it’s only 30,000 miles roundtrip from the US to Chile!!! Or you can use 15,000 miles for one way and pay for the return one-way ticket. Norwegian flies to Argentina from Europe for a very good deal and then JetSmart and Sky are low-budget Chilean and Argentinian airlines for local and cross-border flights. As the date approaches, one month out, we will send you more specific information regarding bus information/schedules and prices or just look online (main companies are Jac, Turbus and Pullman). Sometimes the plane is cheaper than the bus!!!!
MEALS, ACCOMMODATIONS & WHAT ELSE TO BRING
Students will be fed 3 high-quality delicious meals a day during the weekdays prepared by experienced cooks. CruzinCobGlobal hosts always serve amazing food to cob students in gratitude for their hard work! Since this is Chile there will be meat options in the mainly vegetarian fare depending on student’s needs. We will try to meet people’s requirements of course so it is important to communicate them as soon as possible. On weekends, food will be available for students to prepare if they are on site.
Students will be camping in the lovely meadows, near the water or in the forest. Compost toilets, hot and cold showers, a dining area, yoga/dance space and a cozy hangout communal area with fire circle will be offered for maximum comfort and enjoyment during this wonderful and transformational time together. Wifi may be available by February onsite, if not, people can put the appropiate sim card in their phone (info provided in Welcome Letter) and get basic service or go to nearby hostel or cafe for wifi connection.
Our host Damián’s additional recommendations to bring are:
Bathing Suit for lakes, rivers and hot springs
Clothing for hiking, rafting and hidrospeed
Warm jacket for evening time
Raingear (occasional rainshowers)
Chocolate!
There are many local stores in case you forget something or prefer to buy it in Chile!
OUR INSTRUCTORS
Viva Hansen has been cobbing since the age of 9 when he took “Cob Building” as a homeschooling class at home! After college he began taking it more seriously and accompanied his mother, the Cob Queen (Claudine) on a GlobalCobTrotting world bike tour through Europe and Africa when he honed his building, teaching, language and international rapping skills. Viva has assisted and taught cob building and oven workshops in various countries and languages and, while he especially enjoys creating ovens/outdoor eating spaces and wants to focus on rocket stoves and mass heaters, his Heart is in any kind of Cob Building. Viva loves the workshop ambiance and the transformational power of “Cob & Community” it provides! Viva is also a certified massage therapist, writer, musician, videographer, NVC student and avid traveller who is working on creating a program for mentoring young men in the art of living a healthy, balanced and fulfilling life in these challenging times. He is thrilled to be teaching his first Cob Workshop with Nico.
Nicolas Pimentel is a Chilean architect and natural builder having taken his first CruzinCobGlobal cob workshop in the Azores Islands when he was studying architecture in Portugal in 2016-2017. Since then he has assisted in two Advanced Cobber Certification workshops in Colorado and Chile, where he hosted a 6-week workshop on his family’s land in 2019. Nicolas’ interests range from cob to light clay straw, tadelakt, adobe heaters, ovens and beyond. He has led a cob house build in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with CCG student volunteers and studied natural building with a focus on plasters at the Tibá Institute in Rio. Nicolas is also a photographer, poet, philosopher, musician and and, like Viva, also an avid traveller. He is very excited to co-teach his first CruzinCobGlobal workshop and we are grateful to have him on the crew! With his bilingual skills and love of people he and Viva will ensure a wonderful workshop with quality teaching!
REGISTRATION & PAYMENT
The fee for the 4-week Intermediate Cobber Certification & Cob Oven Workshop is:
USD$2000 (includes tuition, camping, meals)
or
USD$1900, if paid in full by January 2, 2020
Payment can be made by bank transfer in USD or Euros, using Transferwise, Paypal, Zelle or Venmo. To hold your spot in this workshop you will need to pay 50% of the fee with the balance due by one week before the workshop start date. Please contact claudine@cruzincobglobal.org to register.
We always offer four work trade discounts, 2 in the kitchen making breakfast in the morning and 2 onsite in the morning before breakfast. Each work trade is for one hour a day for $10 off per day or $200 off either the food cost or the tuition cost. To apply for these work trade positions please contact claudine@cruzincobglobal.org.
Chilean students please contact claudine@cruzincobglobal.org for more information. Esudiantes chilenos favor de contactar claudine@cruzincobglobal.org para precios y más info o con Whatsapp al +18312127225.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO MEETING YOU IN THE MUD!!!!
