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The School of Constructive Arts is assembling text, drawings, and images in an open online format. The constellation of thought collected here defines our field of study better than any description. We do not intend to promulgate a single idea of “the right way to build” but to provide an open, rigorous, non-hierarchical platform for knowledge exchange. We learn best by experience and by example. The examples here span many centuries and civilizations, connecting our work to an ancient question: How do we provide for our desires in healthy balance with the living world we are part of? We welcome anything that aids the pursuit of this question. A technical reference and an image that expands our notions of the possible are equally useful and welcome here. If you have anything to contribute please email info@constructivearts.org.





Compressed Earth BlockCompressed earth block combines the health and environmental benefits of earthen construction with the efficiency and precision of modern manufacturing. Rammed Earth Construction A specially prepared mix of earth is poured damp into a form and tamped or rammed. The compression creates a durable monolithic wall with a texture like sandstone which can stand unfinished for hundreds of years. The mix can be natural or stabilized by adding pozzolans or cement as binding agents. Tapial usually refers to the older practice of forming the wall in small sections. Modern rammed earth often utilizes large forms and machinery for mixing, placing, and tamping. Shibām Ḥaḍramawt شِبَام حَضْرَمَوْتOften adobe and mudbrick construction are associated with mud huts and humble single story dwellings. The Yemeni city of Shibam proves this conception erroneous. The houses of Shibam are made out of mud brick but about 500 of them are tower blocks which rise 5 to 11 stories high. While Shibam has been in existence for an estimated 1,700 years, most of the city's houses originate from the 16th century. The city has some of the tallest mud buildings in the world, with some of them over 30 m (98 feet) high, making them some of the earliest examples of high-rise apartment buildings Guia de Construccion Bahareque Parasismica - Wilfredo Carazas Aedo Alba Rivero Olmos Materials of Earth Building - School of Constructive Arts Earth Building Workshop - 3.19.2021 Geologic Atlas of Texas, Emory Peak Presidio Sheet Maps of Surficial Geology within the U.S. are available through the USGS and are a useful means of determining where to source soils of particular composition for earth based building. Gernot Minke's "Building With Earth" is the earthen construction text book / bible. Compressed Earth BlockCompressed earth block combines the health and environmental benefits of earthen construction with the efficiency and precision of modern manufacturing. A damp mix of inorganic subsoil including clay and aggregate is compressed at high pressure to form blocks using a mechanical press. Blocks may be stabilized with lime or portland cement. Typically, around 1500 - 2000 psi is applied in compression. The compression strength of properly made CEB can meet or exceed that of typical cement or mud brick. Blocks may be shaped to accommodate rebar. Adobe Workshop - School of Constructive Arts - 3.2.2021

Ancient Air Conditioning





ĀB ANBĀR | رابنا بآ
The ab anbar is a traditional water storage reservoir of ancient Iran usually submerged and covered with a double walled dome (yakchal). Persian engineers in 400 bc developed a way to freeze and store ice through the desert summer. Water from subterranean channels (quanat) was channeled to the shaded north face of a wall where it would freeze more quickly in winter. The ice was then stored in a nearby double walled dome (yakchal). Water channels (karez/quanats) and wind escapes (bagdir) were used in combination to substantially cool the submerged room. The wind passing the opening of the bagdir creates a low pressure due to the Bernoulli effect. Replacement air is drawn from distant inlets and is passed over the water in the cooler subterranean qanat. Contact with the cool walls of the qanat and the evaporation of water into the dry air cools the air as much as 27 degrees Fahrenheit.



Computational Fluid Dynamics opens new possibilities for the design of forms for passive heating and cooling. Credit: Bushra Obeidat, Hammam Kamal, Amal Almalkawi
Computational Fluid Dynamics opens new possibilities for the design of forms for passive heating and cooling. Credit: Bushra Obeidat, Hammam Kamal, Amal Almalkawi




Halawa House - Hassan Fathy Malqaf with Baffles - Hassan Fathy - Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture MALQAF یگداب The malqaf is a small hollow tower with a directed opening which catches breezes and directs fresh cooling air into a building below. When the opening is on the leeward side a negative pressure is created within the building due to the Bernoulli effect. This negative pressure draws air from an inlet located elsewhere. Often the air is drawn underground or over water to cool it and remove dust before it enters the space. BÂDGIR فقلم Often multiple wind-catchers / wind-escapes would be combined in a single tower to catch winds of varying direction. Inscriptions found in Egypt indicate that counterposed wind-catchers were used in pharaonic times but the technology was most developed in ancient Iran where the towers are called bâgdir. The multiple directions have an additional advantage in that the windward and leeward sides of the tower, separated by a septum, develop opposed pressures which can induce more substantial airflow than a single directed opening. Often multiple bâgdir would be placed around a water reservoir, āb ānbar. By drawing air over the water a substantial evaporative cooling effect was obtained. This ancient refridgeration was capable of maintaining near freezing temperatures without electricity. Bâgdir of Dolat Abad in Yazd Iran QUANAT ةانق The qanat is a gravity fed horizontal well system that is able to provide a reliable supply of water for irrigation and human settlements in hot arid and semi-arid locations. The qanat draws water from upland aquifers often in the steppes of mountains which receive consistent rainfall and delivers it to land where the water table is too deep to reach by vertical well. The channel eventually surfaces as its slope is slighter that the ground above. A series of relieving wells aid in the construction, maintenance and continual flow of the qanat. The qanat is a naturally sustainable means of extracting water since it draws exactly what the aquifer can supply. Many towns throughout the Middle East, North Africa , and parts of Asia still rely on these ancient channels for water. The layout of these towns is largely determined by the qanat and the sloped distribution of water. Quanats at Gur - Subterranean water channels were integrated with wind escapes to cool homes in ancient Iran.Image Credit - Georg Gerster





Technology


Technology is anything that mediates between us and the world. An umbrella, a sentence, and a rifle are all technology. We do not want to live in a totally unmediated reality nor in a totally mediated reality.  Articulating that ballance is one of the most critical challenges of our time.








Agricultural Structures


Food is a more immediate need than shelter and so it is not suprising that structures built for growing food remain some of our most advanced technologies of enclosure. Each design is the product of focused research and investment that outstrips any residential or commercial building project. Designs are deployed on a broad scale, in varying environments, repeated, and tried again. With so many test-cases - repetition, feedback, adjustment - designs have become extremely refined. The risks are lower than in inhabited structures, and there are no aesthetic styles to contend with.  Greenhouse structures are driven by economy; enclosing the maximum space with a minimum of material, allowing maximum light, maximum air, with the maximum degree of conrtol, and creating at lowest cost a structure which will endure for the longest time. Should not these be the same goals for the homes of today.


Open Roof Greenhouse


Because of the cost of fuel, most growers aim to regulate temperature using sun, wind, and evaporation alone. This leads to a multitude of operable components, shades, vents, sliding panels, louvers, etc. The most advanced in this line is that of the open roof structure pictured. This structure is able to achieve complete equilibrium with external conditions when temperate while providing complete enclosure from cold and snow.





Advanced solar shading in facade design from In Detail - Solar Architecure




Advanced solar shading in facade design from In Detail - Solar Architecure




Bar Joist

Spanning members made of steel angle and standard steel rod allow for long spans at light weight and low cost by using an inately structural ge- ometry. Can be utilized with typical steel post and girder framing or set on load bearing masonry walls.




Space Frame



Light weight two way spanning system capable of long spans. Derives its remarkable strength to weight ratio from it tructural geometry. Can be delivered as a kit of components and erected quickly in the field. Some space frames are being used as alternative building foundations distributing building loads over many points while touching down lightly and avoiding the heavy excavation and concrete work of traditional foundations

Ancestral Teachings


Windingo Notes
From Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer

1. Windingo is the legendary monster of the Anishinaabe.

2. Shaped like an outside man 10 feet tall white hair hanging from its body, mouth raw where it has chewed off its lips from hunger.

3. Windingo is related to the winter famine. An insight from a people who knew hunger and starvation intimately.

4. Windingo myths proliferated especially during the fur trade, when over exploitation of game led to frequent and severe winter famines.

5. The myth reinforces the taboo against cannibalism:

“Succumbing to such a repulsive urge dooms gnawer of bones to wander as Windingo for the rest of time. It is said that the Windingo will never enter the spirit world but will suffer eternal pain of need, its essence a hunger that will never be sated. The more a Windingo eats the more ravenous it becomes.

6. The myth teaches self discipline over selfishness:

“Traditional upbringing was designed to strengthen self-discipline, to build resistance against the insidious germ of taking too much. The old teachings recognize that Windingo nature is in each of us… Anishinaabe elders like Stewart King remind us to always acknowledge the two faces – the light in the dark side of life – in order to understand ourselves. See the dark, recognize its power, but do not feed it.”

7. The Word Windingo is derived from roots meaning “fat excess” or “thinking only of oneself.”
- Basil Johnston, Ojibwe Scholar

8. “A Windingo is a human whose selfishness has overpowered their self control to the point that satisfaction is no longer possible”
- Steve Pitt




Psalm 17 (excerpts)

“My deadly enemies drawn around me their fat has covered their heart”

“And you’re protected ones—fill their bellies, let her sons be sated, and let them leave what is left for their young.”

“As for me, In justice I behold your face, I take my fill, wide awake, of your image”





*all images are credited where author could be identified. If you are the owner of any work shown here and would like to make changes or have your work removed please contact us.

SCHOOL OF
CONSTRUCTIVE ARTS


1316 Snake Road
Alpine, TX 79830


info@constructivearts.org

The School of Constructive Arts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. We support resilient communities and encourage individuals to study, experiment, and advance models for building and living in healthy relation to the natural environment.

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