Regional Natural Building Conference

I'm in Ithaca, NY, this weekend at the third annual meeting of Natural Builders Northeast (NBNe), an association of professional natural building practitioners. Like the early days of the NESEA conference — another annual gathering of regional experts working to help the built environment move toward something more environmentally sane (and often a fair piece ahead of the curve) — it's a small, enthusiastic, well informed, and forward-looking group of smart, funny, concerned designers, builders, architects, engineers, and doers. It's inspiring to see the pool of knowledge and experience growing and maturing, hearing the softly exhaled expressions of new understandings as people learn from their peers. Punctuated with lots of laughter.

Meetings in previous years were held in northern Massachusetts and central Vermont. The location of next year's meeting is a decision coming up on the agenda. A website is under construction, and should be implemented shortly.

Self-guided tours of four projects by local NBNe members were available Friday afternoon for early arrivers, and the weekend gathering officially started with group visits to two more on Saturday morning. Afterward, a freewheeling technical conversation unfolded unabated from lunch until a break seemed in order not long before supper — careening from topics like the effect on thermal resistance by vapor and temperature gradients in straw bale walls, to the proper implementation of stone windowsills, to foundation details, and on and on.

After supper, a modified "pecha-kucha" slam session began: 15-minute open presentations for each person to talk about projects, tools, inspirations. Being an old fart, I left about 10:00, and based on past meetings, things are likely to carry on until the wee hours.

There's another day tomorrow.

Photos from the field trips follow:

 
Friday: Straw-clay house under construction.

 
Friday: Strawbale duplex in the Ecovillage at Ithaca, with a sculpted cob wall feature.

 
Friday: A green-remodeled ranch; this house was featured in the book Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House.

 
Friday: Strawbale house; the porch frame was raised last weekend.

 
Saturday: Earth-bermed strawbale house.

 
Saturday: Round strawbale house under construction.

Related, the fourth annual natural building colloquium in Bath, NY will be Sunday, July 27 through Saturday, August 2, 2008.