tell them to take a look at the domes/ vaults at evesgarden.org - over
2500 people march through here , to see, per year phbbbbbbbbbbbbb-
Clyde--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, sire@... wrote:
>
> Thanks for your post, Kristin.
>
> It is remarkable how certain people move to a climate very different
from where they came from, yet they bring with them their old ideas of
how houses should be built and keep doing it that way. They know no
better.
>
> So when you travel through cities such as Albuquerque, for example,
you will see mixed architectural styles mixed together that have come
from different regions of the country. Next to pueblo, colonial, and
Santa Fe styles you will see two-story brick mini-mansions built by
new immigrants from the midwest or east coast.
>
> New Mexico has an ancient centuries-old tradition of pueblo adobe
building that is perfectly suitable for the climate. Unfortunately
some of the structures built with in these ancient ways and with
ancient materials are now in disrepair and in danger of being torn
down. The native "green" knowledge of how to prepare natural
materials to maintain the old structures, passed down through the
generations from Indians to Spanish, etc., may be close to being lost.
The attempts to patch abobe structures with cementious materials
have been a disaster. Fortunately there are some efforts to commit
the knowledge of these oral traditions to books.
>
> Neal
>
> -------------- Original message --------------
> From: Kristin Elder <kristin_elder@...>
> Thanks to the people who shared their experience with building domes
etc. I'm glad to hear the positive responses.
>
> I'm a little puzzled over the seeming attack on building with domes
and vaults, a method of building which has an extremely long and rich
history, and which has proven marvelously adaptable. I agree that in
many climates building a papercrete dome might not be the best option,
but for the desert southwest, where we will be building, it seems to
be marvelously suitable. In fact, the climate of some of the southwest
is in many ways similar to the middle east's, and I believe that the
strangeness of seeing a domed house is in no way the result of that
house being inappropriate to the location, but that we simply have an
unnecessarily constricted view of the "American House". In fact, the
greater pretension seems to lie in creating a rock or brick facade for
a stick built house, or maintaining manorial lawns, or many other
features which can be seen in any subdiv ision around any
industrialized country.
>
> In the ongoing struggle to create a new, "green" architecture, I'm
convinced that the fault does not lie with papercrete or with most
other alternative building techniques. The fact is that the housing
industry is making a bundle of money building in the wasteful way is
has been for a long time, and I doubt things will change until people
find a way to start making just as much or more money building
"green". I certainly can't answer that problem in general, but I can
in a particular case, by building my own house.
>
> As for me, I absolutely can't wait to live in my "exotic" looking
house. One of the things that appeals to me most about papercrete is
the fact that the materials are so common and easy to come by, and
that the techniques for building are within the reach of the common
handyperson. With our resources becoming ever more limited, and the
divide between haves and have nots constantly widening, it's high time
we revise o ur ideas on what a house ought to look like where and why.
>
> For what it's worth
> Kristin :)
>
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