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February 2014 Volume XIII

Approved Eco-Dome & Earth One Building Plans!!

A Note From Dastan Khalili & Sheefteh Khalili

Hello Cal-Earth friends,

eco-dome blueprintHappy 2014!! This year has started off with so much great momentum and excitement and we are thrilled to share all of it with you. First and foremost, we are thrilled to announce that after an extremely long process, the Eco-Dome and Earth One building plans are once again approved stock plans in San Bernardino County. Our father was always so adamant about going through the building department in order for this work to be available to the mainstream population, so we will continue the submission and approval process as the codes change every 3 years. Thank you to the engineers who helped us with this process as well as our very own Bridget Butler for the countless number of phone calls and trips to the building department before we got the final approval.

In other news, we are launching a weekend introductory superadobe workshop program at Cal-Earth next month. We are so happy to be able to offer this program since we know so many of you have expressed interest in learning but do not have the time or resources to spend a week/month with us on site. Please read through the newsletter or visit the website for more information.

We are approaching the 6 year anniversary of our father's passing and although there are moments of sadness, there are also many moments of joy and success as we carry forward his work. Running a non-profit foundation has its challenges, but it is all worth it when we think about how much we have accomplished as an organization over these past years. Our father would remind us that life is beautiful, even in the most difficult times … you just have to change your perspective to see it.

Thank you to everyone for your continued support as we move forward on this journey, we are excited to see what the year has in store and will keep you up-to-date with all the news!

Earth One Blueprint
Sincerely,
Sheefteh Khalili, CFO
Dastan Khalili, President


Full blueprint package includes:

  • Stamped Construction document blueprints (Eco Dome, Double Eco Dome, or Earth One Vaulted Home)
  • Engineering calculations as permitted under the 2010 IBC
  • Construction specifications
  • Title 24 energy calculations
  • Engineering record
  • One hour engineering consultation

Price: $3000

  

Note:
All plans are numbered and each construction document is licensed for one-time use by owner/builder. If you are building outside of San Bernardino County you will have to go through the permitting process with your local building department.

To purchase or for additional information please contact us.

 

Weekend Workshops at Cal-Earth!!

If you want to work with your hands, connect with the earth, and explore the possibilities of Superadobe and earth architecture then come take our weekend warrior Superadobe workshop. We will teach you how to dig the earth right beneath your feet and transform it into beautiful and lasting forms, such as raised bed gardens, garden walls, retaining walls and more. Once you complete this course you will understand how these same techniques are used to build houses, meditation centers and entire eco-villages using techniques that are sustainable, affordable, non-toxic and great fun!

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS

March 22-23, 2014
March 29-30, 2014
April 26-27, 2014

Program includes:

  • Cal-Earth tour
  • Discussion of Superadobe structures and landscaping elements
  • Background and wider applications of Superadobe
  • Understanding soils for building
  • Hands-on Superadobe bag filling and related techniques

On-site accommodation:

  • Camp in select domes and vaulted prototypes on site
  • Free internet access available for your wireless device
  • Hot showers and full, working bathrooms and kitchen

Tuition:
The cost for this workshop is $250, which is due at the time you submit the application. After completing this workshop, the tuition can be applied to a full-length Cal-Earth workshop at anytime in the future.

If you are interested, please submit an application for a workshop. Once you have registered, you will be contacted by the Cal-Earth instructor with all the additional information regarding the workshop (travel details, what to bring, etc.).

Cal-Earth Superadobe Bags

  

Cal-Earth Superadobe Workshop
http://calearth.org/apply

 

2014 Workshop Season

Learn to Build

Education and training are essential to Cal-Earth's training and vision. We believe that shelter is a basic human right and that every person should be able to build a home for him or herself. For those interested in learning to build with the earth, Cal-Earth offers intensive workshops throughout the year. Give us a few days of your time and we will teach you hands-on how to build your home, your school, or your community with the earth beneath your feet.

//Cal-Earth Workshop

  

Weekend Workshops
March 22-23, 2014
March 29-30, 2014
April 26-27, 2014

Four Day Workshops
December 2-5, 2013
February 19-22, 2014
July 9-12, 2014

One Week Workshops
March 10-15, 2014
May 12-17 2014
June 9-14, 2014

Combined Masonry Heater Workshop
April 7-13, 2014

Combined Permaculture Workshop
October 6-18, 2014

"The Cal-Earth workshop is magical. Not only will you learn invaluable skills for creating structures that are vital for a sustainable future, but also experience participating in a community of beautiful minds."

"The workshop was very worthwhile. The 'hands-on' experience in earth building techniques coupled with living in a community with people from around the world was something you simply can't get from any book."

"The workshop was one of the more transformative and enjoyable experiences of my life thus far. The information presented was relevant in regards to what humanity currently needs."

http://calearth.org/apply

 

Superadobe & Masonry Heater
Combined Workshop

  Superadobe & Masonry Heater Combined Workshop
 

April 7-13, 2014

Come join Cal Earth Institute as we combine sustainable architecture with sustainable heating systems! This combination workshop is very much hands-on and is geared towards someone who wants to build and create a usable space right away.

In this workshop you will learn how to build your own house and how to build a super high-efficiency masonry heater in only seven days!

Workshop Details

  • The workshop will include the standard core curriculum taught at Cal Earth Institute during the first four days
  • Students will participate in building a complete domed structure on site and all theoretical and conceptual details
  • The masonry heater is also a full build, from beginning to end, and will be a real, permanent installation, inside one of the houses at the Cal Earth Institute.

About Masonry Heaters
Masonry Heaters burn fuel at 90+ % efficiency, producing almost no polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons and double burning the fuel and the gases so that the fuel to heat ratio is extremely efficient. Along with this the system produces instant radiative heat, instant hot cooking surfaces and long-term conductive heating of the building which last for many hours once the thermal flywheel has momentum. The combustion chamber design is discussed in detail; the dynamics and theory of fire are discussed in detail; cob, earthen plasters and insulative elements are discussed in detail, as well as finishes, artistic flourishes and custom design considerations.

Veteran expert Lasse Holmes will work with Cal Earth Institute to offer this combination workshop.

Cost: $1600 for new students/$500 for alumni

Note: Anyone who has previously attended a Cal-Earth workshop may attend the Masonry Heater portion
only for $500 (April 11-13). Please contact us for more information on this.

To apply Fill out the official Cal-Earth application and pay the required $200 deposit

(Note — due to the unique nature of this combined workshop, this deposit is nonrefundable. If for some reason you
cannot attend, your deposit can be transferred to a future Cal-Earth building workshop.)

Fourth Annual Permaculture Workshop
October 6-18, 2014

This has been our most popular workshop the past three years! The combined workshop delivers the full Cal-Earth and Midwest Permaculture curriculums and upon completion students will receive both their Superadobe Workshop and Permaculture Design Certificates.

Cost: $2300 early registration until July 31st (includes Cal-Earth Superadobe Workshop Certificate of Completion, full set of Cal-Earth Books and DVDs, Permaculture Design Course Certificate, Permaculture Design Book, access to both Cal- Earth and Midwest Permaculture Forums). As with all Cal-Earth workshops, some partial scholarships are available.

  

Cal-Earth Permaculture Workshop
http://calearth.org/permaculture

 

Advanced Long Term Vault Program

Following the successful completion of the long term program, the advanced program focuses on Superadobe vault construction. Once a student completes the long term program, they have a solid foundation in dome Superadobe construction. Vault construction is the next step in the mastery of this technology.

Vaults combine conventional square architecture with arch design principles to create a building that offers familiar "rectilinear" floor space while providing superior structural integrity through its curvilinear roof. The vault's rectilinear floor plan is recognizable to contractors, building officials, appraisers, realtors, engineers and home buyers alike. Such familiarity offers a present market advantage over domes which are becoming more acceptable but
comparably novel in the public eye.

The program's 6 day weekly schedule consists of four days dedicated to the vault program with the remaining two days devoted to super-adobe site projects. Apprentices will be constructing an entire vault structure from the ground up and will involve all phases of building ranging from planning and foundation layout to vault roof construction.

Dates and Length of Stay

The advanced long term program is a 6 week program. Several cycles will be offered throughout the year to accommodate scheduling preferences. Openings are available for the months of April, June, and October. Program start and end dates are listed below:

April 20-May 31, 2014
June 8- July 19, 2014
October 20-November 29, 2014

Cal-Earth Vault Structure

  

Superadobe Vaults

 

How To Apply

Pre-requisite: This program is currently available only to graduates of the long term apprenticeship program. Though priority will be given to long term apprentices, workshop students are encouraged to apply. For more information please contact us.

 

Children's Workshops

"Even children growing up in the Middle East, when asked to draw a house, will draw a pitched roof and chimney, even if they've never seen one outside a book ... That image of a pitched roof has destroyed more forests. I want to teach children to think of houses in the shape of bubbles and rainbows." -Nader Khalili

Our hands-on tours and workshops give children a chance to explore the structures on our site, inside and out and up and over. No matter how small their hands are, we know that they can build, and we are here to show them how.

Basic Tour: Grades K-12, Tour and Brick Arch Instruction
(3 hours) $10 per student, $50 minimum

Mini Workshop 1: Grades 3-12, Tour and Brick Arch Instruction; with Bag Laying
(5 hours) $25 per student, 15 student minimum

Mini Workshop 2: Grade 3-12, Tour and Brick Arch Instruction; with Bag Laying and Mud Plaster Instruction
(6 hours) $35 per student, 15 student minimum

  

Cal-Earth Children's Workshops

 

Open House at Cal-Earth

  

Rumi Corner

A free event, held the first Saturday of every month (except August and on rainy days), Open House at Cal-Earth has been a tradition for over a decade. Every year more people come to experience it for themselves and to teach their children how to build a sustainable future. Cal-Earth associates and apprentices give tours and answer questions throughout the day. Most buildings are wheelchair accessible. Please no pets.

Cal-Earth Open House

Open House Schedule:
10:00 AM — Doors open
11:30 AM — Lecture given by Dastan Khalili & Sheefteh Khalili along with guest speakers
1:00 PM — Potluck lunch. We encourage you to participate by either contributing a dish (for four to five people), or a minimum donation of $7.
3:00 PM — Site Closes
Rumi Dome

wake up
let's run wild
in the moonlight
wake up
let's interrupt
the sleep of narcissus
we've been sailing on ice
for a long time
it's high time to
venture the waves now

Poem #26
Rumi Dancing the Flame
translations by Nader Khalili

Rumi Corner

 
Elements Newsletter   February 2014, Volume XIII

Cal-Earth SymbolAbout Cal-Earth Institute
Cal-Earth (The California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture) is a 501 (C)3 non-profit/charitable foundation at the cutting edge of Earth and Ceramic Architecture technologies today. Founded in 1986 by its director, Nader Khalili (1936-2008), its scope spans technical innovations published by NASA for lunar and Martian construction, to housing design and development for the world's homeless for the United Nations.

Continuing in his tradition, Khalili's associates and apprentices are dedicated to research and education of the public in environmentally oriented arts and architecture. Its philosophy is based on the equilibrium of the natural elements of earth, water, air, fire, and their Unity at the service of the arts and humanity.

To donate to Cal-Earth, please visit our website:
http://calearth.org/donate.html

  

Cal-Earth T-shirt

About Elements Newsletter
"Elements" is a publication of Cal-Earth Inc., edited by Sheefteh Khalili. Thanks to Ian Lodge, Bridget Butler, Crystal Torres, and Alice Cordova-Potter for their help with this issue. Photo credits: Midwest Permaculture, Black Ant Photography. The first issue of the original "Elements" was published in 1985 by Cal-Earth (formerly Geltaftan Foundation).

Subscribe on our website to receive Elements Newsletter quarterly by email:
http://calearth.org/subscribe.html
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Cal-Earth Inc. / Geltaftan Foundation | Hesperia, California

Superadobe technology was designed and developed by architect Nader Khalili and Cal-Earth Institute, and engineered by P.J. Vittore. Superadobe is a patented system (U.S. patent #5,934,027) freely put at the service of humanity and the environment. Licensing is required for commercial use.

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