Rethink Your Life! Finance, health, lifestyle, environment, philosophy |
The Work of Art and The Art of Work Kiko Denzer on Art |
|
|
[Cob] earth brick dome home/superadobe beehive domeCharmaine Taylor dirtcheapbuilderbooks at gmail.comSun Jul 25 22:05:47 CDT 2010
you mentioned "a 10 foot circular mud hut with a dome roof (also mud)". I am curious. How would that work? +++++++++++++ There is a great book by Nader Khalili (rip) which is all about the Iranian and middle eastern domes and shaped earthen buildings that have all mud bricks. This book does NOT address his Superadobe earthen bag/sack construction. BUT that method can be used to make a 'beehive" shaped house that the long bags are sloped over full( round or peaked, even square) windows, and also rise up from 5' shoulder height to a conical pointy roof, all bags going around in a circle. He has a quick "emergency earthbag video that shows with just bags, dirt and a brick or two ( for pounding the bags) a shovel, cans, a few people can build, in a day, a 10' dome shelter with a door, and maybe a window in areas with no wood avail. Of course his Superadobe method requires FAR less engineering and skill than making mud bricks and placing them expertly into a cone so they support their own weight. of course full regular homes are built this way too, there are plans, and a book/video/dvd avail. see the www.okokok.com website for Kakai Hunter Of course cob plaster can go over the walls of any type dome, maybe not metal tho <grin> lastly in my research for "Ancient Dwellings" (a booklet on earth, cob shelters) the old old style thatch or reed roofs in UK N. Europe were coated afterwards with lots of rivermud, not pretty, and really looked like "mud homes", but the deep clay content of the mud, and an ANGLED roof to shed rain made for a dry home inside. You -today-could also build shed style roof on posts, with the dome of brick or bag, underneath built all the way up to the roof underside, and forget the 'bricks over your head' risk, and labor. One of the most impressive and beautiful roofs I have ever seen is over a French cob home-- extends far past the cob walls as a full shelter over them, and allows light, by design to the upper story. just stunning. And in Germany some of the smartest precivilized dwellings were dug down deep into the ground, then only a short roof/wall covering was needed, again thatch and mud, it saved a great deal on work, kept to the safer warmth of the earth, and stayed more comfortable in winters,( furs were laid into deeper 'sleep ruts' used as beds and the whole thing blended into the landscape, against enemies. Because, in the very 'olden' times walls were the hardest thing to build, so after caves and natural enclosures, a man built lean-to type structure came first, followed by wattle 'draft' skirting around a dug-down enclosure. but for the old style method as you asked: Ceramic Houses and Earth Architecture How to Build Your Own by Nader Khalili Khalili's classic, authoritative manual describes how to build arches, domes, and vaults with earth, as well as techniques to fire and glaze earth buildings to transform them into ceramic houses. This newly revised edition also provides insight into the latest response by building officials to Superadobe or earthbag technology (structures of sandbags and barbed wire), a patented system that is free for the owner-builder and licensed for commercial use. Nader Khalili's ideas on ceramic houses and earth architecture have been published by NASA and utilized by the United Nations, and have passed building and safety tests in California. This new edition is now in its fifth printing. About the Author Nader Khalili Nader Khalili, an Iranian-born California architect and author, is the designer and innovator of the Geltaftan Earth-and-Fire System known as "ceramic houses" as well as the Superadobe building technologies. He received his education in Iran, Turkey, and the United States, -- Charmaine Taylor Publishing & Elk RIver Press http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com< under new ownership
|