Category Archives: Events

Announcing! The Green Building Academy 2018

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We’re thrilled to announce Peter McIntosh will be co-facilitating Long Way Home’s inaugural Green Building Academy in Guatemala this year. Participants can expect a solid grounding and hands-on experience in green, sustainable building and construction practices, social development and a rich cultural immersion.  The Academy will take place in Comalapa, Guatemala, and will draw on the expertise of the Academy‘s instructors, who for 9 years have built an 18-building school using state-of-the-art green and sustainable technologies and methods.

The Green Building Academy provides a menu of unique educational options that are relevant to both professionals and students inside AND outside of the construction industry. Guided by best practices in green construction, the Academy is dedicated to educating individuals and organizations, in both theory and practical application, about sustainable design, planning, and building practices. Participants will connect to their environment, and develop increased consciousness & competence relating to sustainability, environmental & ecological balance, and ethical & respectful community development. The Academy equips participants with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to apply their creativity to design and construction using sustainable, unconventional materials and low-impact methodologies with potential for off-grid implementation.

COURSE DETAILS: Continue reading →

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com

Natural Homes Conference: 9 – 11 March 2018, Prague

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With an exciting line-up of natural builders and designers from around the world, you better be prepared to be inspired and learn from some of the world’s leading pioneers in the field of natural building.

Natural homes conference 2018

It is a rare opportunity to be able to gather with so many like-minded people that share in your interests and passions. Unfortunately, with our South African currency and the fact that our course is a week after the conference we won’t be attending, but we’re sharing the information here in the hopes that someone from South Africa and/or Africa will represent the work being done across our beautiful continent.

Friday
19:00 Sun Ray Kelley – Gardeners of Eden
21:00 Simon Dale – The hobbit house, Lammas eco village

Saturday
9:00 Dan Grmela – Experience from 40 finished straw-bale buildings in CZ
10:00 Aleš Mádr – The story of the Mádr’s straw-house
11:00 Luba Cvrk – Loadbearing strawbale structures – practical experience
12:00 Marek Vlček – Reconstruction with the use of natural building materials
13:00 Lunch
14:30 Nitzan Iserovitch – Deep in the mud
15:30 Presentation of eco-friendly companies
17:00 Marek Rabík – Work of Conscious Craftsmen with Respect to Nature,Spray plastering
18:00 The Panel Discussion of Participating Experts –
The Professionalisation, Innovation and Competitiveness of Natural Building
19:00 Dinner
20:00 Afterparty, Networking, Clay plasters workshop with Vlastik Baránek

Sunday
9:00 Honza Křivonožka – Accumulation Stove : Efficient and healthy heating. Options for combination, functions and shapes.
10:00 Pavel Podruh – Czech Off-Grid Houses
11:00 Otakar Chochola – Feng shui, Quality of space in the transformation of time
12:00 Michal Kravčík – Let’s Renew Rain
13:00 The End of the Conference
13:15 Lunch

Price for Conference
Whole Conference: 130 €/person
Discount for couples, groups, students and pensioners: 110€/person

Price for individual days
Friday: 40 €
Saturday: 70 €
Sunday: 30 €

Contact for registration – http://baobaby.actinidia.sk/index_en.html

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com

A brief look ahead at our natural building courses for 2018

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Attend our natural building course and take the first step to a sustainable future by learning hands-on natural building skills. Learn a whole range of materials and techniques while exploring questions around sustainable living based in Peter McIntosh’s experience living off-grid since 1999.

Natural building courses in South Africa 2018

If you’re serious about building naturally and sustainably then you’ll know that each technique has pros and cons. That is why our natural building course is designed around the principles of understanding earth, how it works and does not work together. You will leave with the theoretical understanding and practical grounding of a range of techniques and materials, so that you are able to make the most appropriate decisions regarding materials and or sustainability once you are ready to begin your project.

This year, Peter will be hosting two CPD accredited courses at Jakkalskloof farm, in Swellendam. Continue reading →

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com

Join us for a unique free, natural and sustainable learning opportunity

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We recently embarked on our first Sustainable Building Course with Earth and Tyres in collaboration with international NGO rockstars Long Way Home. You may have been eager to join in, but due to time or financial constraints had to sit it out? The sustainable building course ends on Friday 19 May, but we still have a lot to do to complete the building. That’s where your opportunity comes in…
Volunteers on site

Natural building course alumni, Bennett and Monre, volunteering on the Delft ECD

Since 2010, I have been dedicated to training people interested in natural and sustainable building. The only common denominator among all the participants was their eagerness to live a life more in harmony with nature and the natural environment.

Since those early days I have seen a steady increase in the number of people interested in what was initially considered an alternative lifestyle. And as the planet seems to be going a little bit more haywire with every passing season, be it electoral or climatic, more and more people are starting a journey towards greater independence and freedom. For many people this means ensuring their primary needs, food, shelter and water are taken care of in one way or another. Often the first step on this journey is building their own dwelling, a deeply satisfying and empowering experience.

Recently, I’ve been engaged with the City of Cape Town and introducing natural and alternative building materials to the public built environment. The first project was the Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre in Delft. Delft, is one of the poorer suburbs in Cape Town with some staggering violent crime statistics. The city is playing the long game as the first 1000 days of a person’s life plays a vital role in the rest of their lives. Early intervention and development is essential. That is why I’m excited about the subtle potential of the environmentally friendly building, exposing children from a young age to the creative potential of earth and other alternative construction materials. And let’s face it, it’s a beautiful and healthy environment that any child will be lucky to grow up in.

The storytelling tree at the Delft ECD.

The storytelling tree at the Delft ECD.

But, I wanted to take it a step further and provide a beautiful and natural training space for ECD carers to train in too. We’re presenting it in collaboration with international NGO Long Way Home – tyre building experts and all-round inspiring humans doing amazing things in rural Guatemala. With support from The Sophia Foundation and buy-in from the City we embarked on this journey at the end of April with our very first Sustainable Building Course with Earth and Tyres. You may have been eager to join in, but due to time or financial constraints had to sit it out?

We are busy building a passive solar, earth sheltered building out of tyres, cob, compressed earth bricks, ecobricks and glass bottles at the Delft Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre. But, the sustainable building course ends on Friday 19 May and we still have a lot to do to complete the building (check out our progress). The anticipated date of completion is the end of June. That’s where your opportunity comes in!

We’re sending out a call for volunteers to participate and assist in the completion of the build. It is impossible for us to say what will happen on which dates, but overall the following activities will be taking place from now until the end of June, and we hope you can join us:

  • Cob pack-out and plastering of tyre walls
  • Steel reinforced concrete ring beam installation
  • Bottle bricks in cob
  • Compressed earth brick floor
  • Roof installation
  • Lime plaster finishes
  • Paving
  • Earth berm installation
  • General tom-foolery

To participate in this unique opportunity you need to have completed one of my previous courses. Please email us your name and contact information as well as days that you are available to join us.

To find out more about the Delft ECD centre and what we’ve been up to you can read the article that appeared in Earthworks Magazine, or you can check out the albums on Facebook and Flickr. We’ve also created a series of shortfilms about the different materials that were used in the build, you can check them out here.

We hope you can join us on this journey.

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com

Announcing natural building course dates for 2017

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Are you on the track with your sustainability goals? Attend our natural building course this year and learn some essential practical skills to help you on your way to living the off-grid dream.

We are thrilled to announce that both courses will be held at Jakkalskloof bio-dynamic training farm in Swellendam this year.

Dates for 2017:

  • 19 – 25 March: Natural building course: materials and techniques (7 category 1 SACAP credits) ~ Jakkalskloof farm
  • 8 – 14 October: Natural building course: materials and techniques (7 category 1 SACAP credits) ~ Jakkalskloof farm

For more information please visit our course page or send us an email at naturalbuildingcollective@gmail.com to book your spot!

natural-building-course_poster_03_2017

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com

Natural building course October 2016, Swellendam

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Take the first steps to a sustainable future by attending our second and final natural building course for 2016. You’ll learn hands-on practical skills and be empowered to be successful and make rational choices whatever the given situation.

We are happy to announce the completion of another successful course at Wild Spirit Backpacker’s Lodge in April, 2016. The second CPD accredited natural building course will be held at Jakkalskloof farm, in Swellendam. Jakkalskloof is an organic mixed-use farm which also provides training in Biodynamic agriculture.

 

Natural Building Collective_Natural building course October 2016 Swellendam

For more information about these CPD accredited natural building courses simply drop us an email at: naturalbuildingcollective@gmail.com

To see what previous participants had to say, visit the Testimonials page; or visit the gallery for photos from our previous courses.

 

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com

AfriSam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture + Innovation 2015/2016

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Online entries for the 2015/2016 AfriSam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture + Innovation are now open and feature two new award categories.

Alongside the two mainstays, Sustainable Architecture and Research in Sustainability, there are now two additional categories for Sustainable Products and Technology and Sustainable Social Programmes – making the Award South Africa’s premier platform for recognising excellence in sustainable practice and innovation.

Increasingly climate and social challenges are necessitating new solutions to persistent developmental challenges. The world needs visionaries that can imagine new answers and design new systems. This bi-annual Award recognises contributions that bring sustainable innovation to human living environments through an integrated approach to communities, planning, design, architecture, building practice, natural systems and technology.

Go to their webpage to find more detailed information on each of the categories, as well as the judging panel and closing dates, and to view past submissions and awarded projects. They have also created a seamless and accessible online entry platform should you have your own project, or be involved in one, that you believe qualifies for entry.

If you have any queries about the 2015/2016 AfriSam-SAIA Award for Sustainable Architecture + Innovation, please email: briefing@sustainabledesign.co.za

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com

First natural building course of 2016

Announcing our first natural building course for 2016! Our natural building course is comprehensive and covers a range of materials and techniques based on Peter McIntosh’s professional and personal experience working with these approaches and from having lived off-grid since 1999.

The course will be taking place at Wild Spirit Backpacker’s in Nature’s valley from 17 – 23 April. You will leave with the theoretical understanding and practical grounding of a range of techniques and materials, so that you are able to make the most appropriate decisions regarding materials and or sustainability once you are ready to begin your project.

Drop us an email to book your place and avoid disappointment.

Poster 04_2016 sml

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com

TERRA Award ~ first international prize for contemporary earthen architecture

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The TERRA award is a collaborative effort on an international scale to enable both professionals and the general public to fully appreciate earth’s increasing popularity as a building material of high aesthetic and technical quality. 

Earth is becoming increasingly popular in contemporary architecture: hundreds of projects of high aesthetic and technical quality are emerging across five continents. This material, which has low embodied energy, is readily available and appropriate for participatory buildings. It could help provide a solution to the needs for ecological and economical housing.

To enable both professionals and the general public to fully appreciate this building material, the following partners have taken the initiative, under the auspices of the UNESCO Chair “Earthen architecture, construction cultures and sustainable development”, to launch the first international prize for contemporary earthen architecture: the Labex AE & CC-CRAterre-ENSAG Lab research unit, the amàco project, the Grands Ateliers, the CRAterre association and EcologiK/EK magazine.

Wang Shu, 2012 Pritzker architecture prize laureate, is the president of honour of this TERRA Award, the trophies for which will be presented in Lyon on July 14, 2016 at the Terra 2016 World Congress.

Context

Since its creation in 1979, the CRAterre-ENSAG Lab has been considered as the international research and training reference centre for earthen construction. It will organize in July 2016, under the auspices of the UNESCO Chair “Earthen architecture”, the Terra 2016. This World Congress takes place every four years on a different continent and will be held for the second time in Europe. It is expected to draw around 800 professionals, teachers and researches to Lyon (France).

The TERRA Award was initiated within this framework. It will be the first international prize for contemporary earthen architecture and a natural furtherance of the national award launched in 2013 in France by CRAterre-ENSAG, AsTerre and EcologiK/EK magazine.

Objective

The purpose of the TERRA Award is not only to identify and distinguish outstanding projects, but also to highlight the audacity of the project owners for choosing to use earth, the creativity of the designers and the skills of the craftsmen and entrepreneurs.
An itinerant exhibition will feature 40 buildings from all continents, constructed using various techniques (adobe, cob, CEB, rammed earth, plaster, etc.) for all types of programs: housing, public facilities, activities, and exterior and interior designs. The exhibition will be completed with lectures and workshops by CRAterre-ENSAG and the amàco project.
The search for outstanding achievements deserving of this prize and the associated exhibition will make it possible to generate the first worldwide database on contemporary earthen architecture. The resulting virtual library will be available both to the general public and professionals via this website.

Involved projects

The projects must have been completed after January 2000.
There are eight categories covering all types of programs, whether new or renovated:

  • Individual housing
  • Collective housing
  • School, sports and health facilities
  • Cultural facilities and religious buildings
  • Offices, shops and factories
  • Interior layout and design
  • Exterior design, art and landscape
  • Architecture and local development

Text from the Terra Award website.

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com

Earth and Straw building conference, March 2016, New Zealand

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The Earth and Straw building conference will be a celebration of Natural Building worldwide and provides a rare face-to face opportunity for networking with others in the field from all over the globe. The aim of the conference is to foster development, education, and awareness of the positive impacts of natural building and related sustainable building approaches. 

Natural building materials have been used for centuries and today a large proportion of the world’s population continue to live in houses made from earth, stone, fibres and other naturally occurring materials. Natural Building is as valid in the 21st century as it ever was.

Globally the construction industry is not sustainable, placing large demands on both energy and material resources. It is vital that we learn to build and repair buildings in ways that not only minimise damage to ecosystems, but which also promote their regeneration. We need to actively explore and encourage different and better ways of building so that the well-being of both the environment and the people who occupy it are not harmed.  Continue reading →

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com