[Cob] natural building education questions

[maralena]

Greetings!

I am working on an educational signage project for a small permaculture
education center in Portland, OR (www.tryonfarm.org), of which you may or
may not have heard.  One sign, 8ft long by 4ft tall, will be devoted to
discussing natural building.

We've got a few questions, listed below, for those who have given their
lives and souls to the pursuit of natural building.  If you wouldn't mind
taking a few moments to answer them sometime in the next few weeks, we
would find your input and knowledge extraordinarily useful.  Please reply
off-list to: maralena at tryonfarm.org

Also, if you know anyone else who might have input, feel free to forward
this along.

Many thanks,
Maralena




FYI: The trajectory of the sign is that it will begin by talking about how
all cultures at one point built with the materials in their immediate
environment, and it is only in the past century that industrial building as
we know it today arose.  (In discussing this history of building, we want
to emphasize the complexity of drawing on historical models, openly
acknowledging that there's amazing examples of beautiful buildings which
were constructed using slave labor, and that we might not want to replicate
all patterns of history in choosing our building methods.)  We'll then move
into a discussion of the health & environmental impacts of industrial
building & urban environments.  Next is an exploration of various natural
building techniques (listed below), followed by a discussion of how to
integrate some of the tools & practices into 'everyday' life, and efforts
in Portland to rewrite building codes so's to allow for more sustainable
practices city-wide.


1. What, historically, are some of the most beautiful, awe-inspiring, epic,
durable, intricate or just generally impressive examples of natural
building, in your opinion?  (We're looking for a wide range of examples
throughout cultures and histories: mud huts, treehouses, stone buildings,
temples, etc.  The more detail you can provide about the geographical
location, the culture(s) who built/build that way and what materials they
use(d), the better.  And 100 points if you can provide a link to a picture
online.)


2. We have the following listed under natural building techniques &
considerations.  Would you add anything?

- how natural building compares w/ industrial building in terms of health,
economic & environmental impacts
- definitions and advantages of building with: cob, strawbale, wattle &
daub, cordwood, earthbag, natural paints & plasters, passive solar design,
rainwater catchment, composting toilets, greywater systems & small diameter
roundwood timber framing


3. What are some effective and durable examples of natural building being
applied either in post-industrial communities in the 'developed' world or
in communities affected by natural disasters?  How have the techniques,
wisdom and skills of natural builders been able to meet the needs of
communities that have been abandoned by capitalism/development/the
neoliberal empire?


4. What most excites you in the field of natural building today?


5. Anything else you'd like to add?  Any educational or informative
resources you want to point us in the direction of?