Tag Archives: Natural Building Course

Natural Building Courses in 2019

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In 2019, we will be hosting two of our esteemed week-long natural building courses, and expanding our international reach to grow our collective and partner with new and old friends alike. We’ll be combining our experience of training in natural building with our mission to create beauty and do good with some exciting projects in the pipeline. 

Old friends

Our relationship with Long Way Home goes back to 2014 when we worked with them on the Lebone project in Bloemfontein, spearheaded by Start Living Green.  Since then we’ve partnered with them on the Delft Early Childhood Centre (2016), and our month-long sustainable building course in 2017 that launched the Delft ECD Training centre. Last year was the inaugural Green Building Academy and Peter McIntosh from the Natural Building Collective was there to co-facilitate.

New friends

Patrick from Offgrid Vision first reached out to the Natural Building Collective about featuring on a podcast for his series on offgrid humanitarianism, building and community. Peter has since been a guest on the podcast, and the course in Delft is a result of their synergy. Their team does amazing work around the world and we’re very excited to be welcoming their team to South Africa. Check out their podcast for some inspiring voices on offgrid humanitarianism, or if you’d like to support their projects.  Continue reading →

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com

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

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

Thanks for an awesome 2017!

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“The future belongs to the few of us still willing to get our hands dirty.” – Roland Tiangco

As the end of the year approaches, we want to wish you well over the festive season, and thank you for your support in 2017. You helped us finish the Delft Early Childhood Development centre, start and almost complete a training centre for early childhood development in Delft, as well as host our two usual natural building courses and co-host a sustainable building course with earth and tyres in partnership with our friends Long Way Home. Prior to the course Long Way Home commissioned a manual for sustainable building which was authored by Peter McIntosh and Guy Williams (LWH).

During the past year, we were part of the design team for a new ECD in Strand with our focus on sustainable materials and passive solar design. It will be built from rammed earth, compressed earth brick and some ecobricks, offgrid and treat its own black water. This five star rated green building will serve a disadvantaged area in Strand for around 400 children. Unfortunately, it’s on hold due to the current drought. We have also been giving design inputs on other City of Cape Town projects that are in various stages of planning. We are also working with Ikamva Labantu on using sustainable building in ECDCs in the NGO sector.

It has been a tough year, but a year of advances too.  So we would like to give you an overview of the year, and to thank you, especially our donors, friends and volunteers, for the contributions you have made to the successes of the year.

We give you a very brief recap of the blog and then continue to update you on the Delft ECD, as well as our progress with the training centre.  Continue reading →

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

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

Owner-builder journey ~ Franz Muhl: Energy flows where attention goes

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In this edition of the Owner-builder journey, Franz Muhl writes about a mud brick addition to his Scarborough home: “Let me build a home from fertile materials that is beautiful and healthy to live in, have a very low footprint and would grow a forest if you left it.”

Franz 1

Five years ago, Peter McIntosh gave me +- 900 sun-baked mud bricks, for an extension to my house. Franz 3With little start up money, a trickle of income, some plans on google sketch up, a pickaxe and, most importantly, plenty of time, I finally started the process a year ago.

 

At foundation level, with the skills that I had at the time, I used clay-fired bricks and a bitumen coat for damp-proofing. Franz 4In March, I headed off to Berg-en-dal for a crash course with Peter. He traded his skills and knowledge in natural building for mine in brewing beer. To take clay, sand, water and a bit of straw in the right proportions and work it into a material for building, was a big revelation for me. Continue reading →

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com

CPD accredited natural building course: Materials and techniques

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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. You will be empowered to be successful and make rational choices whatever the given situation.

We’re excited to announce the first course of the year will be taking place from 26 April – 2 May, at Wild Spirit Backpacker’s lodge in the beautiful Nature’s Valley.

Take the first step to a sustainable future by learning hands-on natural building skills. Understand the alchemy of how different types of earth work, and do not work together, their potential and limitations. You will also explore questions around sustainable living based in Peter McIntosh’s experience living off-grid since 1999.

Email naturalbuildingcollective@gmail.com to book your spot!

CPD accredited Natural Building 7 day course_April_WS

 

 

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com

All good things must come to an end

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… and 2014 is no different.

2014 course collage

It is with pride and joy that we look back on the successes and new connections made during 2014.
We launched our blog in March and have had over 5000 visits from people in 98 countries! The blog contributions included knowledge shared by our expert natural builder Peter McIntosh, to fly-on-the-wall takes of life as an architect and educator interested in building naturally and sustainably by Hermie Delport, personal lessons learned by owner-builder Laurie Simpson, and Amanda de Gouveia’s contributions as social development researcher at Qala Phelang Tala, a grassroots community upliftment and alternative building project focused on vulnerable communities in Bloemfontein. Other contributors included heritage consultant Lesley Freedman who about using indigenous earthen architectural knowledge, and green architect Malcolm Worby shared his thoughts on a comparison between natural materials.
Peter wrote a special piece for The Green Times, South Africa’s Green News Portal, on the relationship between building naturally and building sustainably; and our most popular posts this year on the blog has been his three part series on Understanding Earth, how to test earth, and how to make the appropriate decision with regard to plaster and mortar mixes.

Peter McIntosh facilitated three courses this past year: two CPD accredited courses at Magic Mountains in Barrydale, and one 6 day Natural Building: Materials and techniques course at Khula Dhamma in the Eastern Cape. All-in-all 33 people attended these three courses and got to do the mud dance and experience the art of natural building. Hopefully, that translates to at least 33 more natural buildings in South Africa!
Khula Dhamma reckons the course is a winner:

‘It’s hard work but huge amounts of fun, highly therapeutic and more rewarding than one could ever imagine. With the different techniques and materials and their thousands of capabilities, you are literally only limited by your own imagination and there is something so beautiful about that!’.. Read more.

If you want to see what other participants had to say about the courses please visit our updated Testimonials page. Or if you’re interested to see photos of the courses, you can either go to our albums on Facebook, or visit the Gallery page on the blog. Thanks to everyone who has liked, commented on, and shared our posts and events on Facebook! Our page has continued to grow, and we now have over 1200 likes, all thanks to you. If you’ve attended one of our courses, please note that we’ve now added the option to review us on Facebook.

Finally, Peter McIntosh has been part of an amazing project at the Lebone Village Arts and Culture Centre in Bloemfontein as one of the Mentors4Change. This collaboration with Qala Phelang Tala (Start Living Green) started on Mandela day, July 18th when Peter trained a few hundred people in the art of making mud bricks. Amanada de Gouveia wrote about the day here. Since then they have had a team consisting of volunteers and outpatients from the  University of the Free State’s Occupational Therapy clinic in Rocklands location, hard at work on the Shack Replacement project. This team was also privileged to attend the course at Khula Dhamma.
In recent weeks though, the focus has shifted to the Lebone Arts and Cultural Centre and the existing above ground cistern at the local orphanage. The crew includes volunteers, outpatients from the occupational therapy centre, a crew from Guatamalan NPO Los Técnicos (arguably world experts in alternative building practices [tyres, bottles bricks etc.]), and Peter McIntosh . Here you can see the progress from day one to day nine (photos courtesy of Los Tecnicos). For more photos of the building progress, please visit their Facebook album of the project.

The project is set to continue for another week or so, and hopefully they’ll get it all done in time. A great partnership has been fostered between these three organisations and holds great promise for other projects in 2015… Watch this space!

Finally, thank you to old friends and new for a blessed 2014. We’re looking forward to continue this muddy journey in 2015 as we explore new relationships and exciting new projects, more photos, knowledge and experience in how to build naturally and sustainably, to bring you, our supporters. We’ll be publishing our course dates for 2015 early in January so do keep an eye out for that if you missed out this year.

Thanks for joining us again, and we’ll connect with you sometime, somewhere soon…

Warm regards,
the Natural Building Collective

PS If you would like to get involved and write for us, be it a once-off, or more regular contribution, please send us an email with what you have in mind.

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com

Introduction to Cob building – Kenya

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The Permaculture Research Institute in Kenya will be hosting a seven day cob building course. The course aims to be a part of the revival of natural building in Kenya; to help revitalize an ancient art and incorporate new techniques learned through past decades as natural building has gained traction internationally. 

Earthen Shelter in collaboration with the Permaculture Research Institute (PRI) in Kenya

WHAT: A hands-on course appropriate for both first-time builders and for professionals in the building trade who are interested in natural materials. In this seven day cob workshop, the focus will be on the characteristics of the natural materials most commonly used in construction:  clay soil, sand, and fibers.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE: The course is appropriate for both first-time builders and for professionals in the building trade who are interested in natural materials.

WHERE: Laikipia Permaculture Centre is a 1.6 hectare farm located on the Laikipia Plain, north of the Rift Valley in Central Kenya. Founded in 2012 by permaculture teacher Joseph Lentunyoi and Permaculture Research Institute Kenya, the project aims to illustrate how regenerative agricultural practices can improve local food security and community health while preserving and rehabilitating precious ecological resources impacted by overgrazing and other unsustainable use patterns. As a demonstration site for water harvesting and conservation strategies, soil fertility building, holistic pastoral management, natural building and many other sustainable practices, LPC is developing a model with far-reaching potential for Laikipia, Kenya and East Africa as a whole.

WHEN: January 18- 24, 2015

PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS: The course aims to be a part of the revival of natural building in Kenya; to help revitalize an ancient art and incorporate new techniques learned through past decades as natural building has gained traction internationally. Benefits to participants and the local community will include acquisition of the skills necessary to build climate-controlled, sustainable, non-toxic, affordable housing without acquiring substantial debt.  The artisanal and ancestral skills of natural building have largely been lost through the 20th century. Commercial materials and conventional building styles have benefited from industry biased-regulations and are now largely associated with status and prestige. This is the case in Kenya, a country that is integral to the history of natural building and that still contains communities reliant on natural housing.

In this seven day cob workshop, we focus on the characteristics of the natural materials most commonly used in construction:  clay soil, sand, and fibers.

(1) The main focus will be cob, which combines these readily-available materials to hand-sculpt beautiful walls, benches, ovens, and fireplaces.

(2) Various other building techniques that utilize the same materials, including adobe block, light straw-clay, wattle and daub, and plasters will also be touched on.

(3) Discussions will be held on how to find and choose appropriate soil for construction, how to create various mixes and plasters, how to incorporate timber and stone, and how to use earthen materials to build walls, sculpt niches, shelves, and furniture.

(4) As a complement to the hands-on portion of the course, slide shows and discussions of the science and theory of natural building will bring deeper understandings and answer any questions.  Subjects include building design and siting, passive solar design, foundations and drainage, earthen floors, appropriate roof design, and wiring and plumbing for natural structures.

APPLICATION: To apply, please register online with the PRI .

For details on the project go to: http://www.earthenshelter.com/workshops.html

Please contact the Natural Building Collective to send us more information about your natural building events.

 

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com