Cal Earth Creating Different Housing

ClosedLoop writes " Yesterday was the 14th anniversary of the Cal Earth Institute. I found myself in southern California's high desert listening to Iranian-born writer, award-winning-architect, and Cal Earth Institute founder Nader Khalili present his vision of affordable housing that the world's people can build for themselves. Judging from his research structures (and EcoDome), he's not far from his goal. He also works with NASA on ideas for structures that can be built from local Lunar or Martian materials. "

Comments

Needs to be blessed by academia

[panurge]

Remember, folks, the technology and science of indigenous peoples isn't real until it has been properly rediscovered by Westerners. In fact, indigenous peoples don't actually exist until the West discovers them and writes coffee-table books about them.

OK this is a cheap jibe, and these houses do look nice, but most cultures have rather good traditional building styles based on local materials, and they are under threat mainly from so-called architects, and the heritage industry which wants to preserve them as they were and not allow them to be adapted to modern conditions. In fact, I have just had my house refaced and new ashlars and lintel on the front door using materials dug up a few miles away, while down the road you can see modern houses being put up with inferior stuff that has probably moved several hundred miles.

This guy may actually be doing a good job, but as others have said, it's not as if he invented doing things this way.

Re:Needs to be blessed by academia

[davejenkins]

Remember, folks, the technology and science of indigenous peoples isn't real until it has been properly rediscovered by Westerners. In fact, indigenous peoples don't actually exist until the West discovers them and writes coffee-table books about them.

While I realize your attempt is to grant some legitimacy to "non-western" sciences, your original sarcasm actually holds water to some degree (IMHO). Certainly non-european cultures had their sciences and indigenous architectures, but let's not grant them "superior" status just because they are different. The wooden box house is just as legitimate design as teepees, adobe, and straw huts-- it is a lot better in many ways-- but that isn't my point.

While it is politically correct to rag on the "West", let's face facts: the "West" has outstripped every other culture technologically for centuries. This has in turn led to cultural, financial, and philosophical dominance as well. This is not a bad thing-- it is just a thing. Someone has to be in charge, and the good news is that the dominant philosophy is liberal democracy.

Back on topic: Lunar Adobe moon houses will be cool, but I imagine NASA will be opting for the designs that allow the most space for the least energy and time-to-build. I don't think they will go for cool shaps just because they are shamanistic avatars of Kaguya-hime.

Re:Adobe?

[Tsu Dho Nimh]

"the dwellings these indigenous people have been using since the beginning of their civilization will work just fine."

Ever seen what happens to the traditional adobe house when an earthquake hits? That's why the death toll in the mid-East quakes is so high. The Cal-Earth design won't turn into dust and dump the roof onto the sleeping kids.

Re:Compromise

[cowscows]

Just to disagre, I think Geodesic domes are extremely ugly. Fascinating things they are, sure, but they do not make an attractive house.

More importantly, with a different emphisis on design, I'm guessing you could probably make these Cal-earth structures look significantly different than what that website showed. A geodesic dome has to look like a geodesic dome. Unless you completely cover it with other stuff, in which case, why bother with the dome anyways?

But still, any attempts to create more sustainable, efficient homes is good by me.

Why not learn from wood frame style construction?

[N8F8]

A lot of this stuff looks pretty far fetched. In America, wood frame construction has won the affordable housing race. Advancements in modular home construction could easily be used to develop even more transportable housing. The reason I say a lot of this stuff is kooky is because of the lack of standardization. At some point you also need to talk about SAFE housing and that is very difficult without standardized building practices.

So maybe a proposal in the middle would be to look at what made the wood frame style so successful and apply that to local building materials.

Re:It's supposed to be affordable

[srock2588]

Indeed, if I want to live somewhere there are jobs for a software engineer, what the hell is the point of a $12,000 structure built on land that costs $250,000 an acre on the low end? If I wanted to live cheap I would just move to rural Georgia, not build a hippy house.

Homes should be localized

[Firethorn]

One thing that gets me is that even within the United States, there are major variations in climate and weather. Yet I've seen homes pretty much identical in both North Dakota and Florida. In one you have to worry about extreme cold(-30 or so), pipes freezing, snow on the roof, etc... In florida, you have to worry more about heat, humidity, bugs, mildew/mold, precipitation, and hurricane force winds.

Why should buildings built for different areas be the same? It's not like homes are moved much, so why not customize for the conditions and building materials of the area the home is to be built in?

Look at the text, not just the pictures

[JohnnyBolla]

Apparently these are up to spec for southern california earthquake code.
That tells me one thing, that most of the people commenting here didn't read the copy, they just looked at the pictures.
But hey, the guy below that wouldn't want to SELL them wins the prize for "missing the point by the greatest margin" for 2004.