[Sdpg] ROADTRIP TO CALEARTH Hesperia CA SAT Dec 1/07 Dome, Sweet Dome - Inventor teaches world to build sturdy houses

Sat Nov 17 09:27:59 PST 2007

hi Everyone
         this is to wet your appetite for annual Roadtrip trip by the 
South Coast Permaculture Guild to Hesperia Ca to see the Earth domes 
and Houses of Architect Nader Khalili.

Saturday Dec 1 Roadtrip to visit visionary Architect Nader Khalili at
Calearth in Hesperia Ca. this is an all day annual trip to visit the 
demonstration
site. This is an amazing adventure see what can be done with earth
and it is truly low cost beautiful housing that does not tax the 
earth's biological
resources.

we will leave Santa Barbara at 6:30am and be back by 6 pm. for more 
info call Wes Roe
964-1555 or email lakinroe at silcom.com, potluck lunch
Check his Website for pictures of the Earth buildings and more info 
and article below
www.Calearth.org

CARPOOL Instructions

SANTA BARBARA DEPARTURE PLEASE BE ON TIME/Print Instructions to keep with you:

The Hesperia/Cal Earth roadtrip is happening. Dress WARMLY to have 
fun and be comfortable, the high desert can be cold. We will leave SB 
Downtown 128 E Carrillo (Pueblo Building on corner of Carrillo and 
Santa Barbara Street, park on street in front of building to organize 
car pooling) Dec 1, SAT at 6:30am reach Ventura by 7:15 am at the 
Carrows Restaurant Parking lot at Seaward, then on to Hesperia, 
reaching there shortly after 10.
Will be back to SB by 6.pm

Please let me know if you are coming and how many and where you are 
meeting us (Wes Roe 964-1555, lakinroe at silcom.com. )

DIRECTIONS To CAl Earth Nader Khalili Road Trip to Hesperia
 >From Santa Barbara (about 3 hours) take Hwy 101 south to Hwy 126 
proceed along to Hwy #5 turn south and proceed to Hwy#14 north go to 
Pearblossom Hwy east to Hwy#138 south(east) proceed to Phelan Rd turn 
left. Follow Phelan Rd as it crosses Hwy #395 and turns into Main St. 
Take Main St past Hwy #15 to Topaz Rd, Turn left onto Topaz another 
left on Live Oak, then your first right onto Baldy Lane at CalEarth 
sign. Check a map because route is a little complex.

 >From LA, take Hwy 15 north to Main St exit, Hesperia, turn right 
proceed to 2nd stoplight, turn left onto Topaz, left on Live Oak 
first right on Baldy Lane at Calearth Sign

Calearth website is www.Calearth.org phone is 760-224-0614

http://www.Calearth.org/whatnew/hstar1.htm
                          Hesperia Star

Nader Khalili shows off the inside of one of the dome houses he has 
built at the Cal-Earth facility in Hesperia. Khalili came to Hesperia 
a few years ago to teach others his techniques.

Inventor teaches the world to build sturdy houses
No less mystic than the earthen domes he constructs in Hesperia or 
the Persian poet Rumi who inspired him to shift from designing 
skyscrapers to building with adobe, Nader Khalili's ideas are gaining 
international attention.
      Imagine building a beautiful home with high, arched ceilings 
out of little more than water, some barbed wire and the dirt in your 
own backyard for about $1,500, then finishing it off with tile, 
ornate windows and a few furnishings, all for a total of $7,000, 
excluding labor. Single room domes are even less and can be 
constructed in a matter of days.
      "My work is to create the most beautiful structures out of the 
simplest materials," Khalili said.
      Students, artists, architects, environmentalists and writers 
from all over the world have converged upon Hesperia to rediscover 
the simple power of earth, air, water, and fire (heat from the sun) - 
the only ingredients necessary for Khalili's fire-proof, flood and 
earthquake resistant domes.
      Khalili's California Institute of Earth, Art and Architecture 
(Cal-Earth) has even gained the attention of United Nations researchers.
      One U.N. official said the ceramic domes are ideal for 
environmental refugees, disaster-ridden areas and people who live in 
slum housing because Khalili's superadobe eliminates many of the 
obstacles aid agencies face when providing assistance.
      "The cost is really low," said Nassrine Azimi, chief of the 
United Nations Institute for Training and Research in New York. "I 
presume if the technology were perfected it could compete with the 
cost of a tent, and that is tremendous. We think it has the potential 
to absolutely change the way many aid agencies work."
      Several years ago, five Iraqui refugees built 14 of the domes in six days
      Another benefit of Khalili's superadobe is that it can be 
expanded as conditions grow more stable, Azimi said.
      Now, Khalili is currently constructing what he calls, "Earth 
1," a typical American home, with three bedrooms, a two-car garage, 
and a few other advantages.     "It's the standard American dream 
house," Khalili said. "It's also fireproof, hurricane resistant and 
earthquake resistant."
      Although Hesperia building official Tom Harp was skeptical when 
Khalili first arrived in town and applied for a permit to construct 
his domes in 1991, he said he has been pleasantly surprised by the 
structures' sturdiness.
      The buildings, which are constructed out of nearly 1-foot wide 
walls made out of long sandbags filled with dirt, water, and perhaps 
a little cement for more permanent structures, withstood the city's 
wind and earthquake standards.
      "Quite frankly, I didn't think he would meet building codes 
when he first started off on the whole venture," Harp said. "The 
buildings all stood up to the tests engineered. I would not have 
guessed that would have happened."
      City officials reported receiving inquiries on the Cal-Earth 
Institute from other countries, including Japan and South Africa.
      "There's been a lot of interest with the International 
Conference of Building Officials," Harp said.
      "It is considering developing a section in the building code to 
address alternative types of construction. There's a big movement for 
green construction, types of construction that are less damaging to 
the environment, and you can't get much greener than earthen 
construction."     Because Khalili's concept requires no trees to be 
cut down and can be built from materials available everywhere, he 
hopes his ceramic domes will become the housing for the new 
millenium, both here on earth and perhaps eventually in lunar and 
Martian colonies.
      "What we are teaching (people) is they can go to any place in 
this world, dig and build themselves and others in the community a 
home using earth, sun, wind and the natural elements," Khalili said. 
"While here, they discover their own creative potential."
      His students come from different walks of life, courses of 
study and even different countries, but many share similar 
experiences at Cal-Earth.
      Frank Mallat of Indio hopes to build his dream house out of superadobe.
      "I've been an environmentalist for thirty years, and my wife 
and I bought 70 acres in Desert Hot Springs. We'll build our own 
house and well our own water," he said.
      Amid the otherworldly appearance of the domes, students create 
from their own sweat and hands, many find more than what they were 
looking for when they first arrived.
      "It's opened me up to a lot more out there," Elizabeth Muniz, a 
3-D art student from Visalia, said. "It's put me more in touch with nature."
      Emiko Peterson, an architectural student of Anaheim, said the 
opportunity to study at Cal-Earth has opened her horizons to things 
she didn't learn in school.
      "I guess they teach more about form-making, like massive 
sculptures," Peterson said of traditional architectural school. "What 
I'm learning here has a more spiritual quality and more meaningful form."
      Some students come to learn Khalili's technique, but never 
leave, like painter-turned-superadobe teacher Michael Huskey of Apple 
Valley and Khalili's associate, Iliona Outram, an architect from London.
      Huskey found a more meaningful art medium in the domes, he 
said. Outram who is also the daughter of a British architect, always 
wanted to learn earth architecture.
      "I met him and one month later I moved to Hesperia. That was 
nine years ago," Outram said.     "The joy of the work and the 
inspiration Nader gives are worthwhile for humanity. Instead of just 
being an architect, I wanted to do something for the environment."
      The public may vist Cal-Earth during its open house offered on 
the first Saturday of every month.
      For more information on Cal-Earth or Nader Khalili, visit 
www.calearth.org, or call (760)244-0614.

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