Research Archives

Exterior Tadelakt plaster dome in the Gambia

October 12, 2015 by Ben Eyers Filed Under: Projects, Research

Tadelakt dome | West Africa

lime kiln | The Gambia

Tadalakt test panels | West Africa

This project, an experimental exterior tadelakt, was undertaken in January 2011 by Ben in Sandele, an eco resort in the Gambia, West Africa. The managers of Sandele, two Brits, Geri and Maurice, have a genuine and powerful drive for environmental and social projects, and have designed and built the resort accordingly (back in 2003, Jessica had a hand in the design of the resort and its buildings). Geri and Maurice host volunteers from around the world and facilitate experimental projects such as this one. They have also used pioneering techniques in the buildings in the resort – they imported an compressed earth block (CEB) press from Auroville, in India. Ben’s project was to build and test a small scale lime kiln, using resources from Practical Action , to see if lime could be made more efficiently. The second and more ambitious part of the project was to make tadelakt plaster from the lime produced from the kiln to waterproof the fabulous earth domes of the guest houses using more natural materials. The result was a report originally written for the NZ Earth Building Association magazine. The Australian Owner Builder Magazine subsequently published it also.

Download the full article here: 181 EB update

An updated longer version with a bit more of the technical information has also been printed by the Building Limes Forum for their 2015 journal.

Solar shading thesis – shutters

October 12, 2015 by Jessica Eyers Filed Under: Research

As part of her Masters in Environmental Architecture, Jessica wrote a thesis on the appropriate use of shutters on buildings, for passive cooling, reducing heat loss, security… the list of benefits goes on! The research project used empirical data taken from measuring temperatures in test cells to determine the comparative benefit of different types of shutter, in terms of reduced heat loss in winter and reduced heat gain in summer. The results were interesting: shutters provide little in the way of insulation in winter (curtains are just as effective; even insulated shutters were not significantly better) but provide fantastic reductions in heat gain in summer, particularly when louvred and combined with ventilation (external shutters were signficantly better than internal). View the presentation given at SB07 (Sustainable Building 07 Conference) in Auckland:

Shutters

Shutters Detail

International Straw-bale Conference 2016

September 30, 2015 by Jessica Eyers Filed Under: Research

The International Straw Building Conference 2016 was held 3-9 March in Canterbury, New Zealand. It was truly inspirational, with many passionate, knowledgeable and skilled people from around the world.

Super smart people here with some very clever ideas. Very refreshing to talk to all these people and share ideas with them.

Here are some of our highlights:

Craig White at Modcell (UK) pushing the boundaries of housing development. Incredible amount of very valuable research.

Barbara Jones at StrawWorks (UK) proving that you don’t need steel or concrete in your building to make it durable and leading the way with open-source straw bale detailing. Absolute wealth of knowledge direct from real experience.

David Eisenberg from DCAT (USA) talking about world-leading advances in straw bale building codes

… has pioneered the concept that the responsibility of safeguarding public health, safety and welfare inherently includes protecting future generations and the natural systems on the Earth that are our collective life support systems and the basis of our very existence

Richard Walker and Hugh Morris (NZ), talking about the results of their work into the performance of earth structures in earthquakes. Read their paper here. Also Verena Mader demonstrating her outstanding knowledge in earth building.

Stunning earth murals by Consuelo Miranda (Chile)

Emily Niehaus of Community Rebuilds (USA); changing the world for low income families with beautiful, low cost straw bale buildings… and providing life-long skills in the process

Steve Richards of the Jester Cafe demonstrating the virtue in ‘just doing it’.

Rosa Henderson of Sculpted Earth in Waiheke for pure unadulterated passion:

Kara Rosemeier of PHINZ for a fantastic summary of Passive House and its relationship to natural materials

and a special thanks to Sue Duff from Childcare@sue’s for providing unequalled support for us during the week!

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