ARQUITEKTURA
El
Temazcal | Cal Earth | Links
In Winter 2003 I began construction of a temazcal in a small fishing village on the Pacific Coast in the state of Michoacán, México. I chose to build a temazcal as my first superadobe project (outside of Cal-Earth) for several reasons. Preliminary research told me that few, if any people in this area knew of or about temazcales. I wanted to make something small and manageable for a first project, something of a small scale in which I could safely involve children. My research and temazcalli took me to Palenque, Chiapas, to a temazcal constructed by my friend Alonso Butz-Chan, and to Temixco, Morelos to study with Hilda Malacara.
In Michoacán, I recruited from among my neighbors several amazing youth ages 6-16 who volunteered their time and energy and in return learned fundamentals of superadobe construction and had a lot of fun. In winter 2004 we finished construction, and the building has remained covered and awaiting final plastering and finishing touches, which I hope to finish Winter of 2005-06.
California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture is located in Hesperia, California in the high Mojave Desert, 85 miles east of Los Angeles. For nearly 20 years, my teacher Nader Khalili and his assistants and apprentices have been blazing forward in the field of earth architecture. They have had so much success that NASA and the United Nations have solicited design advice and desire to adopt certain approaches and techniques developed by Khalili and the Cal Earth team. In 2004, Cal Earth was awarded the Aga Khan Award for innovation in architecture.
In the fall of 2002 I completed an apprenticeship program in Superadobe construction and in January 2005 returned to Cal Earth for further training and to continue working on various prototype structures.
These are some links to other sustainable architecture and cool projects going on. Please feel free to turn me on to some of your favorites.
Updated 15.August.2005 / Created and maintained by Ocote Soul Media