httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFnxw_bVxdc
“The California Institute of Earth Architecture or Cal-Earth appears like some alien subdivision dropped out from space into one of those ubiquitous cookie-cutter suburban starter home communities in the urbanized southwestern Mojave Desert. To reach the Cal-Earth training/test site in Hesperia, one must first past through several streets of nearly identical homes with virtually the same SUV parked in front. When I looked for it, I felt lost amid these cookie cutter homes, but then suddenly, the Cal-Earth complex emerged with its array of exotic beehive-like adobe domes behind a chain-link fence. The juxtaposition of these strange structures against the backdrop of the recently-built suburban homes makes the Cal-Earth dwellings seem, at first glance, out of place, but after closer inspection they begin to appear completely natural in this arid environment. Then like a camera adjusting its focus, the generic tract homes surrounding them seem out of place with the desert.
At the gate, I was greeted by my friend, Hooman Fazly one of the long-term Cal-Earth associates who now travels the globe teaching Cal-Earth’s Superadobe construction technique developed by its founder, Iranian-American architect, Nader Khalili. Hooman, who received his BA in architecture at UC Berkeley in 2003 and veered away from a successful career in conventional architecture. He took me on a tour of the various building experiments and prototypes found at the Cal-Earth training campus — some are built as low-cost, but reliable, emergency shelters for those affected by natural disasters. Others, such as the Earth One Vaulted tract home prototype exhibits how Khalili’s building technique may be applied to more traditional contemporary homes found throughout SoCal suburbs.” Alright Hooman! Read the remainder of the article here…