Earth Hands and Houses

Workshops coming soon:

10th - 18th February 2014 in Thailand

Building an Earthbag, sandbag Dome...

Fantastic low tech skills for Building for disaster relief... and disaster resistant houses.

....best for areas prone to flooding, and hurricanes.

Taught by architect and earthbag author
Paulina Wojciechowska.
10th – 18th February 2014.
An 8 day workshop in Chaing Mai, Northern Thailand.
Earthbag buildings offer a very low cost of construction and far greater resistance to natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes, making them an ideal building method to introduce into many regions in Asia.
The workshop will be lead by Earth, Hands and Houses founder Paulina Wojciechowska, a qualified architect who has over 17 years of experience building with earthbags in communities all around the world. Paulina worked alongside Nader Khalili at Cal-Earth in 1996 and is the author of “Building with Earth”, one of the leading earthbag construction books.
The workshop is a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience of all stages of constructing a large 4 metre diameter earthbag dome in a beautiful location in Northern Thailand, and will include:

Learning about earthbag and sand bag structures that can be constructed in areas prone to flooding and hurricanes.
designing a house that can withstand floods and hurricanes.

Theory of earthbag stucture foundations.
Building an earthbag dome from an existing concrete base.
Creating earthbag walls using both single bags and earthbag tubes.
Different techniques using arches and lintels to construct doorways and windows within the earthbag structure.
Ensuring the structure is stable through the correct use of buttressing and corbelling based upon the nature of the earth used to fill the bags.
The theory and some short practice of clay plastering techniques applicable to earthbag dome structures.

Earthbag Workshop cost (8 days) : 360 euros
Other important practicalities:

This workshop is part of a series being run by our host, Maggie McKerron. Please see [http://maggimck.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/workshops-in-chiang-dao-thailand-2014/ ] for details of the other workshops Maggie is running which you may also wish to attend.
Food will be provided for an additional cost of approximately 6 euros per day with shared kitchen duties.
Free camping will be available on site.
The best way to travel to the workshop is to fly or take a train to Chaing Mai in Thailand and then travel one and a half hours by bus or taxi to the workshop site.

After this workshop there will be an opportunity to stay on as a volunteer and participate in finishing the dome.
This is more than just an earthbag workshop – it will be a wonderful opportunity to enjoy an amazing 9 days of learning and relaxing amongst like minded people, some who may become your friends for life!

For more details see www.earthhandsandhouses.org
email info@EarthHandsAndHouses.org
call Paulina on +44 1825 713349

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PAST WORKSHOPS

22 - 29th October 2013,

Building with Straw bales

(a workshop taught by Paulina)

Taurus Mountains of South Turkey
In the Mediterranean forest of Dutalan, 60km from Antalya in Turkey.

A straw bale and clay plastering workshop.

This is a rare opportunity to learn how to build straw bale walls around a wooden hexagonal structure that supports a reciprocal roof.

In a 2 part workshop we’ll learn how to; raise straw bale walls with hazel pinning, tying walls, making a wall plate and compressing a wall, Installing door frames and window frames, as well as making clay plaster, recognizing clay, preparing clay plaster, the application of 3 different layers of earthen clay plaster, preparing wheat paste for stabilizing the final layer, sculpting, painting with clay paint and make light straw clay insulation.

Hands-on and some theory.

Cost: 395 Euro
(food: approx. 6 Euros per day, accommodation: free camping)

for more information
email: earthhands@gmail.com
or call : +44 (0)1825 713349.