Cob: Buddha's Playhouse

[John Schinnerer]

Aloha,

I was at Breitenbush Hot Springs recently and took a look at the finished
(!!) cob structure that had I worked on the summer before last - a small
meditation/meeting space they call Buddha's Playhouse.  It came out
lovely - has a sod "living" roof, and radiant heating in the floor courtesy
of their hot springs geothermal heating system.  The inside is
plastered/whitewashed; the outside is mostly plain cob with some plaster of
differing colors (from plastering experiments) here and there.

The person in the office said it was a nice space and they were very happy
with it, but it was not as warm as they had hoped in winter.  I went and
sat inside, and the nice warm floor made up for a fair bit of the cold
walls - but the walls were cold.  It is in the woods and probably does not
get any significant solar heat input, especially in the winter.  I think it
is also "out at the end" of their heating loop, perhaps not getting as warm
of input as other buildings there...?

It's a fine example of a cob building, though, so anyone heading to
Breitenbush (http://breitenbush.com/ - near Detroit, OR, East of Salem)
for a soak or a retreat be sure to have a look!

John Schinnerer, MA
-------------------------
- Eco-Living -
Cultural & Ecological Designing
Human Habitat Design
john at eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net