Kurt Gardella | lowtech-hightech

Latest Horno Project

Kurt — Thu, 22 May 2008 19:20:27 +0000

I built a new demonstration horno for my latest online “Horno Design and Construction” class. I videotaped the entire building process for this and future online horno classes. I decided to give this oven an insulated earthen floor instead of the usual fire brick. So far it seems to be working really well. As always, I used all natural materials from the local area. The final finish is an experimental mud plaster with wheat paste mixed in and lots of chopped straw. We just had a nice rain so it will be interesting to see how it held up. Earth ovens perform better with natural plasters but you have to be willing to touch up the plaster once a year. The tiles were purchased from Habitat for Humanity, Santa Fe and were inserted directly into the final mud plaster coat. My next online horno class begins in late June. See the NNMC Adobe Department website for the full summer schedule and more information about the class.

Ampersand Sustainable Workshops

Kurt — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:57:08 +0000

I participated in 2 workshops at Ampersand Sustainable Learning Center in Cerillos, NM in May. The weekend workshops covered earthen plasters and earthen floors and were both excellent. Taos master plasterer Carol Crews taught the earthen plaster workshop and shared important plaster recipes and techniques with the group including a recipe for an aliz. Jim Harford taught the mud floor workshop sharing his excellent floor leveling and hand troweling techniques with us. I am extremely thankful for the knowledge Ampersand and the instructors so openly shared with me. Keep an eye on Ampersand’s website for news of upcoming workshops on passive solar water heating and other sustainable topics.

Spring 2008 Adobe Internet Classes

Kurt — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:12:17 +0000

I would like to announce my upcoming spring 2008 online earthbuilding/adobe classes offered through Northern New Mexico College. In addition to the courses I have been offering over the past 4 semesters:

Adobe 101 - “Adobe Design and Construction Worldwide” (intro class full of hands-on projects to get you started)
Adobe 110 - “Adobe Preservation, Conservation and Renovation” (the basics of renovating an earthen structure)
Adobe 111 - “Horno (Clay Oven) Design and Construction” (build your own clay oven over a few weekends)

We have now added the following classes to the online curriculum:

Adobe 107 - “Passive Solar Adobe” (built around Quentin Wilson’s entire live lecture series on passive solar)
Adobe 147-102 - “Websites for Trades and Artists” (DIY web design - build a website for your adobe or art project)
RE 103 - “Renewable Energy Introduction/Overview” (learn the basics of renewable energy systems by looking at real off-the-grid projects from around New Mexico)

Eduardo Carvalho is also adding his “Intro to Rammed Earth” class to our pool of adobe classes on the internet. Eduardo will be covering traditional Portuguese rammed earth techniques for you on location in Portugal!

Finally, don’t miss the “live” classes taking place this semester on campus in El Rito. An absolute must in my book will be this year’s “Arches, Domes and Vaults” class. We will be building an adobe vault on location in Abiquiu, New Mexico. The foundation will be in when we start - we put in the walls, all window and door openings and finish the structure with a vaulted roof. You learn the essentials of adobe construction over a two-week period - two weeks of mud and fun in the New Mexican sun. Check my EARTHBUILDING page for complete details on these upcoming courses, including how to register.

Adobe at Bioneers in Santa Fe

Kurt — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 03:41:51 +0000

Quentin Wilson and I were at the Bioneers conference in Santa Fe this past weekend to build a demo adobe dome, promote adobe and round up some new students for the program at NNMC. It was a very successful weekend full of hard work.

The adobe demo dome we did at Bioneers is completely mobile. We bring all the materials to the site in one truck, unload, put the dome together and then pull it back apart when we are done. It certainly turns heads. The base is made of papercrete blocks which a guest instructor made for the department some years ago. They get our base up quickly. We “brownwash” the papercrete blocks to make them look like adobes. Still, we answered more questions about papercrete than we would have preferred. Next, we lay a pre-made wooden bond beam on the papercrete base. Finally, we mix mud mortar on site and build the dome out of thin 7X10 inch mud bricks with mud mortar. We had a load of sand on the truck and just scooped up soil from the conference grounds in Santa Fe for our mortar. It worked perfectly.

No electric needed, only basic hand tools.

The adobe road show - coming soon to a town near you…

New earthbuilding class coming soon!

Kurt — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:04:18 +0000

All 3 internet adobe classes are taking place this semester with students from around the US and one in Africa. There is still time to register for the Horno (clay oven) class which is scheduled to begin on October 1st. Please contact me if you are interested. This is a great way to learn the basics of adobe construction. You will not be disappointed by the pizza that these ovens make.

I have been communicating a bit with Eduardo Carvalho this week. Eduardo is an architect from Portugal who will be offering an internet class for the Adobe Department in El Rito next semester. The class will be on Traditional Portuguese Rammed Earth Techniques. Eduardo sent me this link to his latest project:

http://planob-arruda.blogspot.com

Horno in Abiquiu, NM

Kurt — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:53:48 +0000

Completed an horno (clay oven) for our landlords in Abiquiu. This is the first one I’ve built using a sand form to shape the dome. We used all natural materials from the area. Looking forward to bread and pizza very soon! Click on thumbs for larger pics…

32-inch circle on oven floor

Sand form in place

3-inch thermal layer

Thermal layer complete

Door cut out next day

First ring of insulation layer

Finished insulation layer

Horno with finished plaster

AASW Website

Kurt — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:00:27 +0000

Wordpress re-build of the Adobe Association of the Southwest website. The AASW has its latest adobe conference coming up from May 18 to 21, 2007 in El Rito, New Mexico. I will be there and hope the new website helps spread the word about this great event.