This garage adorned with a photovoltaic system welcomes each visitor as they enter the center of the Kimberton Camphill in West Chester, PA. This rather obvious example of ecological design is trumpted by many other building and design techniques that lessen the communities impact on the land. Other examples include: - Timber from certified forests as well as naturally fallen timber on thier property - Cellulose insultation from recycled newspaper - Metal roofs ( no petrochemicals), light color - Non-VOC paints - Natural flooring materials ( wool, title, linoleum, bamboo) - Rainwater catchment systems - Point of use water heaters - Wood chip composite decking - Roof overhangs for shade and cooling, variable ceiling heights with skylights to let heat escape and bring light and warmth in - Solar light tubes to minimize electrical use during daytime hours - Sustainable landscape design with native species and best practice stormwater management - Building placement to minimize the need for impervious surfaces
Smart Infrastructure Brings Efficiencies to Roads, Rail, Water and Food Distribution
This past monday, we took a trip out to Kimberton Camphill in West Chester County, PA. While walking around the property we came up to what is known as “White Pines.” It is a timber frame structure that now serves as a storage shed and workshop. What is so intriging about the timber used in this project is that it was all milled from fallen white pines that were leveled in a strong storm that hit the area. Take a look back at some previous posts on timber frame structures.
Here is a visualization (a road map of sorts) of the Ecovillage Evolution social media network.
Dr. Karl Koenig in Scotland founded the Camphill Foundation in 1939. The vision of the foundation is to create settlements that enhance the wellbeing of people with special needs by providing them opportunities within a cooperative community to contribute by utilizing thier own unique attributes. Coupled with the movement to harbor nurturing communities, Camphill communities integrate organic agriculture and ecologically conscious living.
Here is an image showcasing the straw bale timber frame method. Notice the vertical bales and the over-sized hammer necessary to wedge unruly mini-wheats into thier new home. Some subtle pursuation is all it takes. Photo courtesy of The Ecovillage at Ithaca.
Straw bale building construction has become a popular way to build a low-cost ecologically sound structure. Like any technique or building process it pays to have a well-designed plan and experience on your side. Many straw bale building techniques fall into the Nebraska style of construction. While not necessarily the wrong way to build a straw bale house it is more susceptible to moisture infiltration and rot in moist climates prone to severe weather events. Nebraska style uses straw bales like legos to stack bales like blocks. Rebar is driven through the bales and secured into a foundation plate, ensuring bales do not shift. The roof is then set right on top of the straw bales. At this point concrete or an equivalent bonding agent can be applied as stucco to the walls. Unfortunately if the straw bales are not flawlessly sealed there can be moisture infiltration, then, your load bearing walls under stress from your roof are at risk of collapse.
However, emerging building practices take advantage of straw bale’s excellent insulating factor (R30 - the higher the value the less air infiltration) while minimizing the risk of structural failure due to moisture and pest infiltration. One such method is exemplified in the timber frame straw bale structures at the Ecovillage at Ithaca. The 800 straw bales used in the construction of two duplex homes at Ithaca in 2003 were from nearby Lodi NY and comprised of waste plant mater from wheat crop. The load bearing structures in these buildings were all harvested locally and milled from Aspen, locust, larch, and 19th century reclaimed maple barn beams. With a timber framed structure in place the straw bales are stacked end on end vertically between the frames. Once built up, the straw bales are sealed with a plaster mixture of lime, clay, straw, sand, and water. Moisture infiltration was greatly reduced on this project by constructing the straw bale timber frame building on a raised poured-slab concrete foundation (made from recycled wood scrap and cement).
Other environmental considerations include, salvaged sinks, kitchen stoves, hoods and backsplash tiles, a PV system, heat recovery devices on all hot water fixtures to limit the amount of water drawn from hot water heaters, and of course a 2500 Watt PV system. Here is a full list.These buildings illustrate how marriage of old world techniques and reuse principals like timber framing and salvaging indispensable goods can be incorporated with new heating, cooling and energy systems to produce a structure that actually takes waste products out of a landfills and growing fields.
Introduction to The Ecovillage at Ithaca -
Head over to our group site for Matt’s description of The Ecovillage at Ithaca’s genesis and mission.
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This is the The Farm School. Construction began 1978 on this 6,000 square foot 10 room school made of recycled concrete block and brick. Its saw-toothed roof provides passive solar gains. Note roof angle blocks off the higher angled summer sun. Photo Courtesy of Caroling at wholeo.net
Successful passive solar projects on The Farm helped them gain attention from nearby home owners. By the late 70’s The Farm broke ground on creating their first ever commercial project for a neighbor. It featured a double envelope design; a structure that had just began to be developed and was not well documented in terms of its performance.
A double envelope design basically means a house within a house. The façade of the building is south facing with large clerestory window panels for solar uptake. The exterior shell of the building is load bearing. Between the exterior shell and the interior skin is airspace. The exterior wall is heavily insulated while the interior wall that creates the living space requires very little insulation. There is an opening at the roofs peak that allows air to enter the envelope.
The design creates passive air circulation. Since the warmed air from the windows is less dense than the cooler air it rises to the peak of the roof and enters the envelope. The warmed air, when introduced to the cooler air towards the north wall, is cooled as it is pulled down the north wall and into the basement or crawl space under the living area. The earth and masonry of the basement or crawl space area continues to absorb any remaining heat, and then the air is pulled back up into the sun space.
In the evening, if the circulating air is cooler than the temperature of the earth and rock that has been heated throughout the day, the earth and rock with release its heat upwards into the living area.