2012 Natural Building Skillbuilder Internship – 4 month

Date/Time
Date(s) - May 1 - Aug 18

Every year a handful of builders join O.U.R. Ecovillage for a season on the building team – people who are enthusiastic about working in the community context and eager to push the boundaries between Natural Building and Conventional building in order to create beautiful, healthy and sustainable structures.

OUR 2012 “Ecological/Natural Building Skillbuilder Internship” has two options:

1) Option one will be 4 months long beginning on May 1st, 2012. $4500 (includes the Natural Building and Community Colloquium, OUR Permaculture Design Certificate, the Timber Framing Guild Rendevous, all building workshops including Robert LaPorte’s Econest Intensive, the plaster workshop, foundations etc etc…..and site/food/field-trips)

2) Option two will be 10 weeks long beginning on June 5th and ending on August 9th, 2012. $3800 (including timber frame workshops, Econest Intensive, clay plaster workshop, field trips and site/food expenses).

This system is a “Light Clay” wall system with a framed Matrix that stands inside a beautiful Japanese timberframe. Econest owner and Instructor Robert Laporte has partnered with OUR ECOVILLAGE and EcoNest Affiliate facilitator Chris Koehn, of Timber Guides, to co-facilitate this amazing synergy of organizations, builders and skills in creating a mandala style/ecological design build project (see Stock Plans for the Peregrine).

As the second home in an ‘affordable housing cluster’ being piloted onsite for a region wide organization, this house is a showcase example of how conventional construction can focus on healthy and natural materials all within ethics of low footprint and non-toxic materials.

Do I need any previous experience?

It is very helpful if you have basic framing/woodworking skills: cutting, fastening etc. We will accept a certain number of beginner builders who have keen interest and compatible learning styles.

Who should register for this workshop?

If you intend to build your own home or studio and wish to work with existing woodworking skills but build a natural house: this is your workshop! It is equally suited for carpenters who are looking to understand and broaden into natural building. Light clay is a great way to infill your Timber Frame structure or it will easily be a load-bearing wall system as well.

What will I be learning?

The course covers the following parts of the Clay-Fiber Walls system:

Matrix Framing: The matrix is the light framework of Larsen trusses that wrap around the timber structure and facilitates an energy efficient clay/fiber wall system.This light framing may be used with a timber frame or as an independent load-bearing structure. Students learn how to efficiently construct and erect the truss wall systems for 12″clay/fiber walls. Students learn when, why and how to use load-bearing, non-load-bearingand hybrid solutions.
Door and Window Framing: Students learn a systematic approach to constructing door and window frames within the matrix of a clay/fiber wall.
Coordination of People: It does not require previous experience to load clay/fiber walls but it does take people power and the skill to organize them. “Builders-in-training” learn how to safely orchestrate a group of people to produce, deliver, and compact thirty tons of clay/fiber.
Formwork: Students will fabricate and install the formwork used for building clay/fiber walls and learn how to recycle the formwork back into the finished home.
Staging: Moving material, erecting scaffolding and coordinating the set up of a project is a major undertaking for each home. Properly organized and executed, it saves time, money and effort while increasing safety. Students learn how to effectively stage a project for maximum efficiency.
Clay/Straw Placement: The art of building a 30-ton wall system in less than 4 days is the result of good teamwork shepherded by good leadership. Like the barn raisings of our ancestors, when people come together to achieve this feat, both walls and community are built. “Builders-in training” will gain experience as team-players and as leaders in the clay/fiber wall building process.
Natural Building Science I: Students will be introduced to the principles of natural building and the relationship between the built environment and ecological impact.
Timber Framing Beauty: From start to finish this building is created within the aesthetics of a incredibly crafted Timber Frame – Japanese style. With sleek lines and open spaces this framing is a very special component of the curriculum for O.U.R. /EcoNest Internship. There are those who can hardly be pulled away from the details during this component of the construction.

Who will I be learning from?

Chris Koehn, will start us off with the deep understanding and crafts-personship of Timber Framing. Chris’s talents as a Timber Framer (Timber Guides), and contractor are a great asset which he brings in as a new ‘EcoNest Affiliate Facilitator’. Robert and Paula Baker-Laporte and will move the project through the second phase when they com in and teach the Econest Intensive and the multiple phases of crafted ecological design and healthy house attributes. Chris and Robert will be backed up on the ground by O.U.R. ECOVILLAGE building team who have years of experience both with Econest and O.U.R. site.
This Internship brings together the best of the conventional building world with the best of natural building methods. Mix this all in with an ecological ethics focus, community development, and an outstanding demonstration site and you have a fully immersed learning environment. You will meet 100’s of people with every walk/talk of related interests, be part of other educational programs onsite, share in community festivals and events, and enter into a cooperative culture.

Progression of the day

We start at 8 am every day with a check in, stretching and laying out of tasks. Participants will work in teams, rotating through all tasks. During breaks we will cover topics that relate to natural building. Be prepared for full, intense days with a great sense of satisfaction as the walls get completed. Evenings are open for slideshows, discussion and rest! Some weekends are in program so be prepared to be somewhat flexible with your schedule. You will be on team for an average of a 40 hour work week.

The following youtube shows an example of Robert and Paula LaPorte’s “EcoNest Intensive’.

O.U.R. Ecovillage is a busy place and there’s much more than just building going on: from garden programs to music events, workshops for people of all ages and ongoing core leadership training- you’ll brush up your communication skills, have great discussions, and come close up with farm animals and people alike.

As we adopt and practice our new leadership structure of Dynamic Governance, everyone here plays a part in their role on a team. 2012 interns and staff will learn and actively support circle meetings as part of their schedule. Community living and participation are also very much at the heart of being at O.U.R. Ecovillage . There’s fun times in community as people spend time in general service each week.