SANTA BARBARA PERMACULTURE
NETWORK
Presents:
Annual Trip to Cal-Earth
Institute of Earth Art & Architecture
Demonstration Site of Visionary Architect Nader Khalili
Saturday, December 6, 2008, All Day
O
n Saturday, December 6, 2008, Santa Barbara
Permaculture Network takes its annual roadtrip to the Cal-Earth
Institute of Earth Art and Architecture in Hesperia, CA, to visit the
demonstration site of visionary architect Nader Khalili.
In this high desert local, Nader Khalili, his wife Iliona, and a staff of
volunteer architects, engineers and student interns have been building
innovative dome shaped earthen structures for almost 20 years.
These structures, using only the earth found on the site, have attracted
the interest of NASA scientists, the United Nations, those interested in
emergency disaster housing, and individuals looking to build affordable
housing. The domes are cheap and easy to build as well as
environmentally sound, and resistant to natural disaster, including
floods, earthquakes and fires, making them especially appropriate to
Southern California. They have been earthquake tested to 6.5 on
the Richter scale. For the last few years a 3 bedroom, 2 car
garage prototype that would appeal to California suburban dwellers
was being meticulously worked out, with Khalili mentioning the
increased frequency of fires in our region and a need to build homes that
could withstand them. Originally called "ceramic houses"
they were intended to be fired as a ceramic pot would be, for greater
strength and beauty.
Nader Khahili was born in Iran, moving to the United States to build
highrises in his early architectural career. He returned to Iran in
the 1970's on a desert odyssey by motorcycle to study the ancient
architecture of his land, hoping to learn how to design affordable and
sustainable structures for the billions in the world who can't afford
housing. Studying the shape of a dome, that repeated itself across
that landscape, he came up with a model that allows anyone, with minimal
skills, to dig what is under their feet and build shelter.
Khalili, who passed away in March 2008, was a translator and student of
the 13th century Persian Sufi poet Rumi, often quoting and reciting his
poetry on his public tours at Cal-Earth. Rumi's poetry taught
Khalili that earth, water, air and fire are the basic elements of life,
and that if we understand the equilibrium of these elements we will never
have environmental problems. He is the author of six books,
including his autobiography "Racing Alone";
"Sidewalks on the Moon", and "Ceramic Houses and Earth
Architecture".
The trip takes place on Saturday, December 6, departing at 6am
from a downtown location, returning by 6:30pm the same day.
Participants would be driving their own vehicles, or arranging
carpooling. There is no fee, potluck lunch. For more information about
this trip, please contact Santa Barbara Permaculture Network organizer,
Wes Roe at (805) 964-1555, or wes@sbpermaculture.org,
www.sbpermaculture.org. More information about Cal-Earth and Nader
Khalili can be found at
www.calearth.org
.
<<<
You Tube
You Tube videos of Cal-Earth & Nader
Khalili:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5_LPYFyaFE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWV-1fGGGDc&feature=related
Cal-Earth model goes to many parts of the world, including
Nepal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU5y_Dion9E&feature=related
-end-
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network
an educational
non-profit since 2000
(805) 962-2571
P.O. Box 92156, Santa Barbara, CA 93190
margie@sbpermaculture.org
www.sbpermaculture.org
"We are like trees,
we must create new leaves, in new directions, in order to grow." -
Anonymous