You are receiving this email because you have experience building with cement, adobe or plaster. We have built a dome in Western Pennsylvania in the Super Adobe Style, developed by Nadir Kahili. It was built as a prototype for a project of Super Adobe Domes in Haiti, (konbitshelter.org), so it has been a learning process, complete with all the learning curves inherent to moving from theory to reality. The task of finishing this structure has proven to be very different process from the two completed Konbit projects in Haiti, thus we seek council. At this point in the project we are seeking input concerning the completion of the structure, because there are a lot of variables and unknowns, due largely to the particulars of our climate and the amount of time it has taken to get to this point.

1. North-facing side of our domes

A little background:

2. South-facing side of our domes

•  The process of constructing our dome(s) began in the summer of 2010, was continued in the summer of 2011 and is to be completed by the end of this summer. The dome is located in North Braddock, PA.

•  We began by digging a 3ft trench for the foundation. The bags are filled with 10 parts dirt and 1 part portland cement(water and tamped) The dirt is from our land and has a high clay content ~50%.  The dome is 16ft interior diameter and approximately 17ft tall. There is an adjoining structure which has interlocking bags with the larger dome approx. 9ft wide  x 12ft tall

3. Open bags and the space between chicken wire.

•  The windows and main doorframe were created using wooden forms while the bags were being laid. The forms were then removed to leave the openings. Some of the bags around the doors and windows were not compacted well when it was build and against better judgment several of the bags at these points were cut with the intention of replacing the loose fill with compacted plaster. At this point, all of these openings have octagonal mesh nailed over the bags. (See pic 3)

•  The 1st layer of plaster on top of the bags is the chinking, which was applied to fill gaps between each course of bags. This was composed of approximately 4 parts dirt; 1 part cement; 3 part sand; and water to feel.

•  The 2nd layer is a 2 inch thick layer adhered by throwing it onto the bags, where it stuck and spans the space between the chinking and covers it. This was composed of approximately 5 parts dirt; 2 part cement; 4 parts sand; and water to feel.

•  At this point most of the 2nd layer on the outside has been complete. The interior only has chinking.

•  The plan for for finishing the dome is to apply a third layer of plaster, to form a monolithic outer shell, and a roofing polymer called crete-coat from US Solutions (as a protective waterproofing coat rather than the asphalt coating of the SuperAdobe style).

After over-wintering the building mid-process, before the final weatherproof layer could be applied, and seeing the results this spring, as well as having general aesthetic and environment questions, we have developed some concerns about which we are seeking council:

4. Deep cracks in the second layer

5. Where plaster has pulled away from the bags

1. What do we need to consider knowing that the 1st and 2nd plaster layers have been applied 7 months ago (through a PA wet winter)? Our concerns are the area where the layers of plaster have crumbled, allowing water and freeze/thaw to happen under the 2nd layer of plaster in some cases separating the plaster from the bags, though it is still attached in a larger sheet. (See pics 4 and 5)

6. Open bag over doorway

2.  There are some areas (doorway entrance, front and back, windows) where the bags are open and the internal dirt/cement mixture has been exposed. Will the plaster and octagonal mesh suffice for structural stability? Do they need to be sealed/fixed before being plastered? If so, any suggestions? (See pics 3 and 6)

3.  There are some areas that we would like to build the plaster up for aesthetic reasons. Is there a suggested limit to number of layers or thickness of plaster? Does there need to be an adhesive added to the plaster in the next layers?

4.  What are your thoughts around drilling anchors into the bags once the 2nd layer has already been put on. Should we chip off back to the bags, go in through the second layer as it is or wait to go through the final layer?

5.  What kind of anchoring systems have you used for awnings, shelving, etc.?

6.  What kind of materials combine well with the surface of the dome (types of metal, additional plasters, fiberglass, wood)? In particular, what kind of materials will combine well in our climate, where certain materials may experience expansion and contraction due to moisture and/or temperature?

7. Wood frame meets adobe

7.  There is a concern that anything piercing the final coating will undermine its strength/purpose. To what degree does this happen and are there additional ways/materials to seal junctures where materials intersect the plaster?

8.  To continue an idea from question 7, we have a wood doorway embedded into the adobe in the small dome. How do we finish the surface where these specific materials meet? (pictures 6 and 7)

9.  If we wanted to continue with awnings made of plaster, either over the windows or doorway, how would you build that onto this already built structure? Or what would you do instead? (please see pictures 8 and 9, to see the angle and size)

8. and 9. Angles of openings needing awnings

10.  If you could put a rain catchment system into place, what materials would you use and how would you attach it to this building?

10. Base of dome and drainage

11.  There is a 6x6in of gravel trench around the outside of the dome. How should the base of the dome be finished so that moisture doesn’t wick into the plaster? We have ideas to add more gravel, but would like specific ideas and opions on how this could be finished. (pic 10)

12.  What have you found as the best dirt/cement/sand ratio for making each layer of plaster? Our dirt is heavy on the clay content.

13. What kind of maintenance can we expect to perform to maintain the integrity of the dome?

Thank you for taking the time to consider and assist our project. We look forward to hearing any ideas you have to offer around any of the concerns mentioned above.

Cheers, Transformazium + Konbit Shelter

http://www.mattress.org/index.cfm?event=ShowExhibition&eid=108&c=upcoming

“…In 1997, in a widely reported act, Ms. Rich declined the National Medal of Arts, the United States government’s highest award bestowed upon artists. In a letter to Jane Alexander, then chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts, which administers the award, she expressed her dismay, amid the “increasingly brutal impact of racial and economic injustice,” that the government had chosen to honor “a few token artists while the people at large are so dishonored.”

Art, Ms. Rich added, “means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of power which holds it hostage.”

to hear Alice Walker on Adrienne Rich with Amy Goodman:

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/3/30/adrienne_rich_1929_2012_alice_walker

And Jose Serrano-McClain  invited us to facilitate a discursive space at the Queens Museum of Art in response to the Andrew Moore exhibition. See a video clip here.

As part of a dialogue around the final stop of the People’s Bienniel at Haverford College –  we spoke on a panel with Tom Finkelpearl, and J. Morgan Puett, moderated by Harrell Fletcher. Harrell began the panel by framing it with creating a relationship to the monocropping that industrial agriculture has depended upon and nurtured with the monoculturing, monoartist that our art industry nurtures, and that we all have a part in creating…or diversifying…or rotating.  It was hosted by the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, write-up is here.