Natural building, green building, mud house, rammed earth, community development, entrepreneurship

1. Ovi Magazine : Natural Building as a Community Game Changer by Murray Hunter
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Editorial
Natural Building as a Community Game
Changer
by Murray Hunter
2014-02-11 12:59:39
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Even though many buildings constructed of natural materials, particularly
earth, have stood the test of time, the construction of buildings out of these
materials almost completely disappeared during the 20th Century. This
occurred due to the development of commercial building materials and labor
saving methods which took on status and prestige connotations, even in Asia
and Africa.
The skills and craft of natural building by artisans who were most often handed down
specific situational knowledge by their forefathers almost disappeared, except for
some small pockets of people scattered around the globe.
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Consequently buildings constructed out of natural materials and methods are now
rare and far between around the world.
Buildings constructed out of mud and other natural materials were until recently
considered primitive, where most likely mental images of African and Indian mud
houses would arise in the mind of most, when the subject is brought up as a building
option.
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However small groups of people from the 'hippy' generation moved out into some of
the scenic rural areas around Canada and the United States during the 1980s and
'90s and built houses constructed through rammed earth, cob, bale, and adobe brick
methods. Designer builders like Meror Krayenhoff have assisted many notable
people like Randy Bachman of the former bands The Guess Who and BachmanTurner Overdrive build beautiful rammed earth homes.
Likewise, in Australia, even with flawed regulations biased towards conventional
dwellings, many owner builders flocked out to the outer Melbourne semi-rural suburb
http://www.ovimagazine.com/art/10823
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2. Ovi Magazine : Natural Building as a Community Game Changer by Murray Hunter
of Eltham, building mud brick homes inspired by architect Alistair Knox's designs and
methods.
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The term earthen building incorporates a number of well known methods which
include:
Rammed earth which involves developing a mixture of sand and clay, and
compressing it within a mold to shape the walls, etc. Usually some form of insulation
like polyurethane, or even old newspaper in the middle of the wall, which maybe also
reinforced with steel rods.
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Cob which involves developing a loamy clay like mud compound and mixing straw or
rice paddy husks into it to build strength.
Mud or adobe bricks which are fundamentally made by molding cob into bricks which
are used in the construction on a dwelling, and
Mud based ferro cement, invented by Dr. Kamarudin Bin Mohd. Nor of University
Kuala Lumpur, which incorporates a mixture of cement, sand and clay, which is
rendered onto a steel or wooden frame sown through some form of insulation like
conventional ferro cement.
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3. Ovi Magazine : Natural Building as a Community Game Changer by Murray Hunter
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Other methods important in the construction of natural buildings include straw bale
dwellings which are usually rendered with a mud based mixture, and bamboo and
thatches for the ceilings and roofs of mud based dwellings.
Building mud houses is more art than science. Learning the right mixtures to use
based on the soil you have available is more a matter trial and error than calculation,
and thus requires a certain amount of experimentation. making an earth house is
more similar to making a cake than building a conventional form of house.
The material cost of building earth based dwellings is only a fraction of the cost of
building a conventional house with commercial materials. However labor is the major
cost.
Earth based houses are naturally insulated, so they will be cool in summers and
warm in winters. They are extremely strong if constructed correctly, and proponents
of earth houses claim they are resistant to earthquakes. Other advocates of earth
houses claim that are very healthy with no irritant chemicals incorporated within the
mixture to cause any allergies, etc.
There has been a small revival of earth house building in Asia over the last decade,
however this revival is driven by a small number of champions like Ajarn (teacher)
Smith, as he likes to be called, of Sakaeo, approximately 300 km North-East of
Bangkok.
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4. Ovi Magazine : Natural Building as a Community Game Changer by Murray Hunter
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As an entrepreneur, Ajarn Smith runs a special type of business that is orientated
towards empowering others to build earth brick houses, rather than for profit. As he
says......"mud houses must be made with your heart", it requires community
collaboration. Thus the business of mud house construction in Asia is a social
enterprise, which is about helping communities to organize themselves and acquire
the specific skills to build their own dwellings.
The concept, at least at village level will not work through the engagement of direct
contractors, it's more a consulting arrangement. And this is where the benefits come
in.
Earth houses are best seen as a community project, and as such are a potential
game changer for a village. Building earth houses is about developing self reliance.
And self reliance brings on many other benefits.
Earth housing as a cluster can be a source of value for a local community. Firstly, it
helps the youth of any village build up self discipline, new skills, and even more
importantly enshrines them with the ability to learn through trial and error. Secondly,
such community projects build up great amounts of personal self esteem, which
according to many academics is important in developing any form of
entrepreneurship culture.
Community earth house construction can be a catalyst for regenerating a cooperative
spirit in a village. Communal work brings back the old values of cooperation, once
one of the cornerstones of village life. It's through this cooperation where new
sources of community opportunity can be created, and provide the basis for a small
entrepreneurial economy. This is so important to keep the youth in any village today.
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5. Ovi Magazine : Natural Building as a Community Game Changer by Murray Hunter
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Many earth building village clusters in Thailand have become the basis for home-stay
projects, which act as a platform for other income making activities like handicraft
production, expanding the potential income base of the community.
Natural building is a potential tool in poverty eradification as well. It prevents the need
to borrow money to purchase conventional building materials, thus reduces debt and
reliance on high interest micro-financing within any community.
Community earth house projects can help change a village paradigm where there is
an emphasis on developing self sufficiency, which without any village will most likely
remain within the poverty trap. Mud housing projects coupled with solar panels and
mini hydro systems to produce a source of electricity, allow the village to improve
their standard of living with the need to be connected to the main electricity grid.
Water can also be harvested from the roofs (if sheets) of buildings to assist in water
self reliance as well.
Combined with organic farming, the indigenous manufacture of enzymes for cleaning
and cosmetic products, and the use of natural ways of cooking , creates a completely
new community paradigm.
In this way earth houses have an almost spiritual value, where it combines the inner
person through their passion and skills, and hard work to the very environment the
community live in.
Natural buildings have an important role to play in rural Asia, particularly in regards to
developing communities within new paradigms outside the old industrialization frame.
Community building workshops are becoming more popular where skills are being
shared between both the 'new and old' worlds. It connects communities to the world,
devout of any middle people.
Earth house development projects can become a new tool in poverty alleviation and
as a catalyst in developing an alternative micro-economy, which maybe very
important with forecasted world economic slow-down over the coming years.
However this to be achieved requires new cooperative business models, basing
value upon labor and skills, rather than technology.
Social evolution may be about going back to the future.
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6. Ovi Magazine : Natural Building as a Community Game Changer by Murray Hunter
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7. Ovi Magazine : Natural Building as a Community Game Changer by Murray Hunter
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http://www.ovimagazine.com/art/10823
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