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RELEASE ON RECEIPT
Fri-Sun.
July
20-22
Natural Home Construction: Straw Bale, Cob, and Straw/Clay Workshop
The cost for the weekend is $250 per person/$450 per couple for all workshop activities, lodging, meals, information package, and supplies.
For more information, contact Sadhu Johnston at the Cleveland Green Building Coalition: 216-732-3385
NATURAL HOME CONSTRUCTION: STRAW BALE, COB, AND STRAW/CLAY WORKSHOP JULY 20-22 IN OBERLIN
JULY 6, 2001-- The opportunity to learn natural building design principles applicable to a full-size home will be offered during a July 20-22 workshop at Oberlin's Ecological Design Innovation Center (EDIC).
The Natural Home Construction: Straw Bale, Cob, and Straw/Clay Workshop will be hosted by Oberlin College, EDIC and the Cleveland Green Building Coalition at the EDIC's sustainable land-use site. The site is located at Clark Farm, one mile east of downtown Oberlin on the south side of Route 511.
The weekend program, which is limited to 18 participants, will also include a tour and discussion of Oberlin College's Adam Joseph Lewis Center of Environmental Studies, a national model for green design.
"All the techniques demonstrated in the workshop have direct application to a full-size home," says Brad Masi, director of the EDIC. "The program is the first in a series of planned annual workshops to develop the building infrastructure at the sustainable land-use site."
Workshop participants will have the opportunity to experience natural building design principles first-hand by helping construct a hybrid straw bale, cob, and straw/clay wall. It will be part of a greenhouse for the Oberlin Sustainable Agriculture Project (OSAP), a community-supported organic farming organization based at Clark Farm.
The sustainable land-use site is a 70-acre property, "where partnerships between rural and urban, public and private, and academic and vocational constituencies are being organized to formulate new approaches to food, shelter, energy, habitat, and planning," Masi says.
The training will be a combination of hands-on construction and classroom presentation that takes the participant through theory, design, and construction of a hybrid natural building.
Conducting the workshop will be natural-design expert Mark Hoberecht, founder of Natural Homesteads. A creator of natural structures since 1995, he has worked side-by-side with prominent natural builders from around the world.
Using salvaged and natural materials, Hoberecht has developed a unique hybrid building system that combines the most appropriate attributes of newer construction methods, such as straw bale, with traditional European techniques, such as cob and straw/clay.
"The result," Masi says, "are buildings that are energy efficient, environmentally responsible, extremely durable, healthy, and beautiful."
Hoberecht has advanced degrees in engineering science and sustainable systems, as well as a professional certification in Bau-Biologie ("building biology"). In addition to teaching workshops, he offers design and consultation services for architects and contractors, as well as owner/builders.
Media Contact: Betty Gabrielli
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