Date/Time
Date(s) - May 9 - May 13
Location
OUR Ecovillage
Advance Registration is closed – Please pay on arrival.
Welcome to this gathering where we will foster connection, share ideas, show techniques and nurture and celebrate the natural building community! In the tradition of the natural building movement we invite you to O.U.R. Ecovillage on Vancouver Island for four days of inspiring presentations mixed with fire circles, good food and time to (re-)connect.
Who should attend the colloquium?
Natural builders of any level of experience will find this a great networking opportunity. Even if you’re just moving into this occupation you ‘re very welcome. Owner builders, developers, planners, tradespeople : if your heart is yearning for more living, connected design and practice this may be for you as well.
Themes of this gathering
- Showcase Natural Building in Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest
- Bridging between Natural and Conventional/ Green building: opportunities and challenges, legal and practical
- Building as if People mattered: one day on exploring the human settlement of the future (also open as one day conference)
Colloquium Outline
Included in the colloquium are many scheduled events along with great ways to network with and learn about other individuals in the industry, for example:
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Schedule highlights of 2012 NBC
- Presentations of current projects, ideas and work are part of every colloquium.
- Evenings will feature one or two keynote speakers followed by fire circles and a dance on Friday night.
- To get back into our bodies we’ll have some hands-on projects available.
- We will set up a special indoor showcase forum. You are invited to bring a small display featuring projects and services
Wednesday
3pm onward
- registration
- tours
- welcome fire circle
Thursday
- 8 am registration opens and the fun begins!
- Welcomes and introductions
- hands on natural building, get in the mud!
- sit tours and introduction to the OUR demo
- discussion, natural building and regulation
- alternative energy perspectives, lecture
- Pecha Kucha presentations, ( A Pecha Kucha is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds.)
- Evening fire circle
Friday
- Game Show with Natural Building!
- Honouring our lineage and sustaining the craft
- discussion on worker coops and natural building
- amazing adventures in the Antarctica, Randy Churchill
- Hands on Natural Building
- Conservation Building, Living Building Challenge.
Saturday “Building as if People Mattered”
- Workshops, Grey water, timber framing and more
- Natural Building Olympics
- recounting, what is the vision of natural building that began this?
- Where are we going in the NB movement
- Dance to the 80s! The Love Guns
Sunday
- World Cafe
- where do we go from here, next steps from the NBC
- Closing ceremonies
Pecha Kucha 20×20
Every heard of a Pecha Kucha? Pronounced “peh-cha koo-cha”, it means to tell us all about your latest passions, projects, or ideas in an excitingly small amount of time using 20 images.You’ll have 20 seconds on each slide before the projector moves on to the next image so give us your gift of gab but hand it over quick. It’s a fun way to let the other Colloquium attendees know all at once what you’ve been working on or thinking about. Please get in touch with Erik (erik@islandvillagebuilders.ca) to get into this year’s Natural Building Pecha Kucha 20×20.
About O.U.R. Ecovillage
O.U.R.Ecovillage is a great place to stay: our land offers plenty of space to camp. There are diverse natural buildings to see and we have spaces for gatherings of different flavors: a large Yurt (great for circles and dancing), a large Community Classroom (for presentations), the Healing Sanctuary (for quiet conversation and meditation) and the Chillage
(casual covered outdoor space). There are solar showers and composting toilets, and we do have a few guest rooms as well. For some quiet time you can walk the labyrinth, sit by the pond or take a walk in the woods.
What should I bring?
What should I bring? Mostly an open heart and mind, curiosity, and your stories. Photos of your work, business cards, camera and notebook. Camp gear for cool nights. Boots for possible muddy paths. Tools of your trade if you wish to demonstrate something. And as all builders know a pocket knife and some gloves are always handy.
** Please note: we have integrated camping and food in the price this year to make it more affordable (the usual rates are: camping $18/night and $25/day for food). We do not cost to be a barrier to participation – please contact us if you have a real need to consider alternatives. **
Advance Registration is closed – Please pay on arrival.
Registration and value
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