Tag Archives: sustainable 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

The story of the Delft ECD Training Centre

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The Training Centre is 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. The design is centered around minimizing the use of cement and concrete whilst showcasing the potential of alternative and sustainable materials. The building feels warm and welcoming amidst a stark social landscape. 
The character of the building is revealed in its hybrid use of natural, recycled and conventional materials and its journey to completion. From the beginning the environment was focused on creating a rich learning environment, starting off with a sustainable building course, progressing under the hands of local community members, interns and volunteers to its full expression as a training centre for early childhood development. 

Continue reading →

https://www.naturalbuildingcollective.com