EARTH

Nader Khalili (February 22, 1936-March 5, 2008) was an Iranian-born architect, writer,
and humanitarian who received his philosophy and architectural education in Iran,
Turkey and the United States.
In 1970 he was licensed by the State of California and has practiced architecture in the
U.S. and around the world. Khalili was known for his innovation into the Geltaftan Earth-
and-Fire System known as Ceramic Houses and the Earthbag Construction technique
called Super Adobe. He was involved with Earth Architecture and Third World
Development since 1975, and is a U.N. consultant for Earth Architecture.
He developed his Super Adobe system in 1984, in response to a NASA call for designs
for human settlements on the Moon and Mars. The project had been completely
theoretical until the Persian Gulf War when refugees were sent into Iran. When this
occurred Khalili partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and applied his
research to emergency shelters.
In 1991 he founded the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (Cal-Earth),
where he taught his Super Adobe building technique. Although Khalili's work received
mixed support in his native country, arguably due to social paradigms and political
unrest, he became a prominent American leader on the value of ethically based
architecture, where the needs of the homeless are considered above all else.
Khalili has written books on his architectural philosophy & techniques as well as
translations of poetry from Rumi, the poet he considered instrumental in his design
inspiration.
The walls are very thick, providing a cool environment in hot weather and insulating against
the cold in the winter. The vast majority of trulli have one room under each conical roof: a
multiroomed trullo house has many cones representing a room each.

trullo - Alberobello - Puglia - Italia

trullo - Alberobello -
trullo - Alberobello -
trullo - Alberobello -
trullo - Alberobello -
trullo - Alberobello -
dammuso - Pantelleria
dammuso - Pantelleria
dammuso - Pantelleria
dammuso - Pantelleria
dammuso - Pantelleria
dammuso - Pantelleria
dammuso - Pantelleria
dammuso - Pantelleria
Ajijic House
Ajijic House
Ajijic House
Ajijic House
Ajijic House
Architect: Tatiana Bilbao S.C.
Design team: Tatiana Bilbao, Thorsten Englert, Damián Figueras, Adriana de Carvalho,
Alex Cabrales, Marco Robles, Edgar Gonzalez
Construction Supervision: Tatiana Bilbao, Damián Figueras
Structural Engineering: MONCAD, Jorge Cadena
Hydraulic Engineering: Hidrotecnicos S.A.
Electrical Engineering: Incoesa S.A.
Building Contractor: Cabrera & Asociados Arquitectos, Enrique Cabrera
Artists: Vigueta y Bovedilla (Marco Rountree y Rodolfo Diaz), Cynthia Gutierrez
Landscape: TOA, Emiliano Garcia WITH Paisage Tony Rodea
Client: Vivian Charpenel
Total Floor Area: 298 m2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQERRbU23bU
Peter Vetsch attended public school in Sax, Switzerland, from 1950
to 1956. He then attended an agricultural school in Cernier until
1962, where he graduated. Afterwards he was an apprentice in
structural design in Winterthur and worked for an architecture office
in St. Gallen.
In the following years, Vetsch attended the academy of arts in
Düsseldorf, Germany, where he graduated in 1970. After his diploma
he worked for architecture offices in Germany and Switzerland.
Peter Vetsch runs his own architecture office in Dietikon,
(Switzerland) since 1978.Since the late 70's, Peter Vetsch has made a
name for himself with his earth house architecture. To date he has
built over 70 earth houses in Switzerland and other countries
throughout the world. Earth houses by Peter Vetsch are based on the
interpretation of an environmentally conscious, ecological and
progressive architecture. Next to the earth houses, Peter Vetsch also
builds conventional houses.
With his technology (sprayed concrete constructions) he manages to
create building shells which encompass maximum space volume
with a minimum of surface area, an ideal form for energy saving.
These constructions eschew right angles and their spatial diversity
overcomes the the monotony of traditional normed designs. They
remind us of Antoni Gaudí's organic forms as well as Jugendstil
architecture.
 Earth-covered architecture benefits from the natural balance
of temperatures. It’s cooler in sommer* and warmer in winter.

*sommer=summer
Earth House Estate Lättenstrasse

Location: Dietikon, Switzerland

▪
▪ Size of lot : 4000 m2 total
▪ Living space : 60 m2 to 200 m2 per house
?
How to compost: techniques
There are a couple of different common techniques for
composting that use two primary methods. Active, or hot,
composting, as the name suggests, occurs when the compost
stays above about 90°F (32°C), allowing aerobic bacteria to
thrive, killing most pathogens and seeds, and rapidly producing
usable compost. Passive, or cold, composting occurs in many
domestic garden compost bins in which temperatures never
reach above 86°F or 30°C. If you put kitchen scraps in the
garden compost bin and leaving them untended, you're cold
composting. This "scrap bin," because it has a very high
moisture content and doesn't get active aeration, is likely to turn
anaerobic and will not smell very good, though it will produce
compost, after a while. This process can be improved by adding
some wood chips or small pieces of bark, leaves, twigs, or a
combination of these materials, throughout the mixture, helping
to improve drainage and airflow.
How to make compost?
Given enough time, all biodegradable material will compost.
The goal in a composting system is to provide a healthy
environment and nutrition for the rapid decomposers, the
bacteria. Not all biodegradable materials are appropriate for
backyard or at-home composting, though. Most backyard
systems will not reach temperatures high enough to kill
pathogens and deter vermin, so pet droppings, non-vegetarian
animal manure, meat scraps, and dairy products are best left in
the trash.

The most rapid composting occurs with the ideal carbon to

nitrogen ratio of between 25 and 30 to 1 by dry chemical
weight. In other words, the ingredients placed in the pile should
contain 25 to 30 times as much carbon as nitrogen. For
example, grass clippings average about 19 to 1 and dry autumn
leaves average about 55 to 1, so mixing equal parts by volume
nets approximately the correct range.
Using compost improves soil structure, texture, and
aeration and increases the soil's water-holding capacity.
Compost loosens clay soils and helps sandy soils retain
water. Adding compost improves soil fertility and
stimulates healthy root development in plants. The
organic matter provided in compost provides food for
microorganisms, which keeps the soil in a healthy,
balanced condition. Nitrogen, potassium, and
phosphorus will be produced naturally by the feeding of
microorganisms, so few, if any, other soil additives will
be needed.
 What can you compost?
• Grass Cuttings
• Hedge Cuttings
• Vegetable Peelings
• Tea Bags
• Coffee Grounds
• Ripped Cardboard & Paper
• Fruit Cuttings
What can you not compost?
• Meat, Fish or Cheese
• Coal ash
• Cooked Left Overs
• Metals, Glass or Plastic
• Nappies
Compost bins vs. Compost tumblers
the Dual Purpose Compost Bench!
This stainless steel composting pail is made for use at the countertop. It has a charcoal filter that eliminates odors, a cover with
holes, and it holds about a gallon of compost.
We've always been hesitant about composting because the idea of keeping it all stowed away in a make-shift container under
the sink kind of grossed us out. Somehow, this version makes us see it in a different light.
Circompo by Thanat Tengamnuay. Circompo is a composter and garbage bin that
decomposes organic waste-especially food-using microorganisms that are kept
under ideal conditions of air, moisture and heat to speed the process.
Animula literally means ‘little life, little soul’
in Latin, which seems to fit the friendly-
looking indoor composter. Created by the
design team of Greg Freer, Katrina Kszekely,
and David Zhang, it relies on living
organisms to break down your leftovers and
you can speed up the process by churning
the contents using the handle on the side.
It’s small enough to sit in the kitchen of a
small, gardenless flat and your window
boxes will love the ‘compost tea’ that
collects at the bottom. We wouldn’t
recommend drinking it yourself though.
research by
architect paolo emilio cassandro