Visionary Architect Could Revolutionize Housing ..(Dome Home)

[SoCalDem]

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=seenon&id=3449893


Visionary Architect Could Revolutionize Housing


AS SEEN ON ABC7 EYEWITNESS NEWS -


Hurricane Katrina's deadly force left thousands of Americans along the gulf coast with nowhere to call home. The disaster highlights the urgent need for emergency shelters that are strong, yet inexpensive and easy to build. Now, a visionary architect here in Southern California has a plan that could not only help Katrina evacuees. It could revolutionize housing around the world. His bold vision is taking shape in the desert town of Hesperia about 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles at the Cal-Earth Institute. These structures are made out of mud, water and barbed wire that can up to hurricanes, earthquakes, flood and fire. This type of emergency shelter like this could be put together in 1 or 2 days.

Architect Nader Khalili who runs the Cal-Earth Institute in Hesperia is on a quest to build homes using the earth's most basic elements. He says that these structures can be built anywhere in the world by using the earth right under your feet. That earth is scooped into long sandbags, which are then wound into a coil. Four-point barbed wire reinforces and holds the structure together. Khalili points out the dome shape is one of the most inherently stable structures on earth. That is one reason nuclear reactors are normally housed in domes. Khalili says any one of these structures would easily stand up to a hurricane. He said they've even passed California's strict seismic codes.

snip....

The United Nations is also impressed with his work.

Khalili has already had some interest from the Gulf region from people who've lost their homes and are ready to try something new. Khalili envisions a day when shelters and even cities are built of the earth's own dust. FEMA is aware of Khalili's projects and even partially funded a levee at Hesperia Lake years ago that used the concept. But so far he has not heard from FEMA regarding shelters for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

For more information on Khalili's Dome Homes and the Cal-Earth Institute log on to www.calearth.org

[evlbstrd]

1. Read R. Buckminster Fuller.

The guy is on the right track, structurally, but he's already pointing the way back to a very primitive life. How many here know how to build with adobe?

[madrchsod]

4. my friends built theirs from "found materials"

one dome had the main floor made from railroad ties and the others main structure was 4ft 2x4`s banded in a bucky ball design. i think the one cost less than 5 thousand and the other, which was better built, was about 10 thousand

[evlbstrd]

6. It's very cool that they were able to do that.

Most people won't. They are just not exposed to th possibility, and, if they are, it can't compete with McMansions and malls.

[madrchsod]

2. domes are really cool

a couple of friends of mine built two of them in the 70`s.what is really nice about them is the interior space,simplicity of construction,and the inexpensive heating and cooling. biggest problem with domes is that no one will finance the construction cost.

[SoCalDem]

5. It seems like the costs are not that much.. Perhaps financing

is not a deal-breaker:)

[Carolab]

3. Look how long the Anasazi structures held up.

Time to return to the old ways of doing things. Of course, there's no money in it for Repukes. Unless they figure out how to charge for mud.

[Trillo]

7. Yes, but

will it pass local building "code". What about CCR? No? Too bad $$$.

[bananas]

9. yes they pass code

From their faq http://www.calearth.org/faq.htm

*Do you have building permits to build with your Earth Architecture technology?

1. Cal-Earth has received several permits to construct Superadobe buildings such as the Earth One House, the Hesperia Museum and Nature Center, and other projects, after providing plans, specifications, structural analysis and by passing the required tests. Original tests and permits were issued by the Hesperia Building and Safety department in consultation with the ICBO (International Conference of Building Officials.)

2. The approved house design plans can be purchased/studied through the Apprenticeship retreat. All plans must be submitted to your own local Building Department.

[Trillo]

12. I was being somewhat sarcastic to make my point.

Don't get me wrong, overall I think it's a great idea.

Elsewhere at the calearth.org site it says this:

"The package of Eco-Dome includes: construction document blueprints, engineering calculations for the 1997 UBC / 2001 California Code, a specification, and title 24 energy calculations, as approved for similar living units, by San Bernadino County, California. All plans are numbered."

It does not say they pass 'local' building codes, or 'will be' approved in all cities. Your quote only says that they received permits themselves in Hesperia, with the help of an international organization.

If one has enough money and time and resources, bureaucratic obstacles of all sorts can be overcome, but, the more obstacles and palms to grease to engage, the less it is about lowering overall building costs.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. When you go to that site (http://www.calearth.org/), you see work

in forms that have been around for eons. They've been around that long because they work.

The Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudi, exploited the form, if not the construction techniques. There's no reason these techniques, and the refined design concepts of people like Gaudi can't be combined and made mainstream. Just look at some of Gaudi's forms, and the forms from the website:

Gaudi:

A roof adorment on the roof of an apartment building in Barcelona, La Pedrera


An apartment balcony from the same building


Sagrada Famiglia, a cathederal he designed in the late 1800s, and which remains under construction.


A stair at his whimsical Parc Guell, also in Barcelona.


How different are these shapes?


Or this building?

Alternative/earth housing is, indeed, the way of the future. There's no reason to believe they can't be as high tech as anythig we now live in, but made of basic, ever-renewable resources. And earth houses are also much more eneregy efficient, in a natural way, than most of what we build, even today.

[WearyOne]

10. shipping containers as well..are being made into very cheap

housing and look great but I love these domes !

[MadHound]

11. Yep, these are great houses

Pick up the latest issue of Mother Earth News, they have a fairly extensive article on these types of houses.