The Brattleboro Area Natural-building Group (BANG) will be meeting on Sunday, February 4th at 4pm in room 2 East of the Marlboro Tech Center (next to the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, which is across the street from the co-op).
We will watch and discuss the first half (or so) of Building With Awareness: the Construction of a Hybrid Home. http://buildingwithawareness.com/
Looking forward to seeing you there,
Sarah
Last month's ice storm threat kept us down to a hardy (but foolish, perhaps) four. Intimate! And frankly, pretty nice. We watched Blue Vinyl and looked over a visually inspiring book called Storybook Style that Travis brought.
From: Jonah Vitale-Wolff <jvitalewolff@riseup.net>
Subject: clay bread oven and natural building workshop, july 2-6
hi all
this is a summer workshop i will be co-teaching. it is an exciting collaborative effort with the heartwood timber framing school.
Build an Earthen Bake Oven (and other natural building topics)
July 2-6
Heartwood Timber Framing School
Washington, MA
Earthen ovens are a traditional focal point of many cultures around the world, where the oven is fired up regularly, brinigng communities together in town or village centers. Now that's what we mean when we say break bread together! The style of oven we will build is informed by designs of ovens from communities in South America , Canada , Europe, and Africa.
In this five-day course we'll build several wood-fired earthen outdoor bake oven from local materials. The oven design is perfect for bread , pizza, veggies, pitas, cookies, you name it, and such that once fired up it stays at baking temperatures for 24 hours. We will work on several different ovens to allow participants a full hands-on expereince. We will work from the ground up, starting with the foundation and finishing with sculptural relief and natural plasters. It will be as much a sculpture as a piece of architecture; form meeting function. Participants will work in smaller groups designing, and constructing, and gearing to use the oven.
Once the ovens are completed we have the options of making our very own sourdough bread and talking about care of a sourdough starter, or making your own peel. We will get fire up the oven(s) for a pizza party on the last night.
Many of the techniques and topics covered for building the oven will be applicable for building other structures and wall systems. Time permitting we will cover natural plastering (clay and/or lime), and other natural building techniques including but not limited to straw bale, cob, light straw clay, waddle and daub, and slip chip.
Students would come away understanding:
- bread oven design and siteing considerations
- natural building techniques as applied to oven building, including cob, slip chip, and natural plasters
- the structural role of clay, sand and straw in an earthen wall
-thermal properties: insulation vs. thermal mass
-considerations for natural building in your projects
-why natural building?
- time permitting, more on natural plasters and infill systems
Instructors Jonah Vitale-Wolff and Micah Whitman will also do evening presentations on natural building techniques and in practice.
Natural building uses local materials that are renewable and non-toxic. Such materials include earth (clay and sand), plants (timber, straw, bamboo) and reclaimed construction components. The techniques to build with these materials are easy to learn, and while often more labor intensive than using components from the lumberyard, can offer the opportunity for exceptional creativity at a much lower cost. The social benefits include involving community members of all ages in building beautiful structures without the need for specialized skills or tools.
Jonah Vitale-Wolff is an Albany-based natural builder focusing on the application of natural building in the urban setting, including community projects and historic restoration. Jonah 's new company Hudson Valley Natural Building specializes in natural plasters, straw bale construction, and educational workshops. Jonah 's diverse background includes carpentry, timber framing, cob, lime and clay plasters and paints, and other natural building techniques. He takes great pride in spatial problem solving to create beautiful spaces from local resources. Jonah is also an organic farmer, community organizer, and father of two young children.
Micah Whitman is a carpenter from Florence , MA who first discovered his love for the design/build process while building an adobe kindergarten in Argentina . After numerous natural building projects he moved to the northeast to learn to timber frame and apprenticed at Heartwood. Micah believes in buildings that use local, minimally processed materials, are healthy for body and soul, and encourage community in the building process.
For registration info contact:
Will Beemer, Director
The Heartwood School for the Homebuilding Crafts
413-623-6677/Fax 413-623-0277
148 Middlefield Rd. Washington , MA 01223 USA
willb [at] heartwoodschool [dot] com http://www.heartwoodschool.com
