! the first wofati - allerton abbey- version 0.7

What will the large wall be? Cob infill? Modified stick build? Cobwoob? 1.21 gigawatt forcefield?

Tyler Flaumitsch wrote:What will the large wall be? Cob infill? Modified stick build? Cobwoob? 1.21 gigawatt forcefield?

Don't know if it is permanent, but looks like fiberglass or rockwool just now. Pretty late in the season to do cob. I think the priority just now is to get it livable quick. Still, it looks really nice. Good size for a family, I think. Maybe smaller than most are used to, but I have seen a family of 5 (children being adult size) happy in a smaller space. The layout gives a sense of privacy that a square room would lack. Normally, the layout would be harder to heat (Than a cube), but in this case with the earth berm being the major heat source, it should work well. The shape of the earth berm will have more effect than the shape of the interior.

My understanding is that this is the first of a number and that different ideas will be tried in each. I look forward to seeing what those changes will be and how different things work out. I think the core design idea is good.

I should have added:
Hey there are more pictures in this thread too:
other pictures

I tried to pick the message with newer pics than here. Like there are people living in there now.

I have been following along during all this hard work and admiring the effort and speed at which this all took place. I do have some questions, from a architectural and structural perspective for the builders/designers of the project.

What is the expected viable lifespan anticipated for the structure before major structural intervention is required?

What has been ( or will be) done to protect the below grade contact portion of the wood from fungal and insect wood consuming organisms?

Did anybody record "man hours" total to achieve the project, and the number of hours of "special equipment" (i.e. sawmills, track hoes, etc) it took to facilitate the project?

Regards,

jay

Things that I want to do better next time:

569) We spent over a thousand dollars attaching the last layer of wood. I passionately want to get the cost of materials for the shell to fall under $200. So this needs to be dramatically reduced or eliminated. Starting by looking at one wall: there are two poles holding up about 30 sticks. Each stick has two, rather expensive, screws holding it in place. I want to replace that with zero screws. Let the pressure of the dirt hold it in place. I do have a concern that in this case there could be bowing of the sticks - so I propose adding a pole in the middle to prevent that.

570) We could see between some of the sticks to see the billboard material on the other side. I think we should have placed smaller sticks between the bigger sticks to prevent this. Kinda like this image from the wofati article:



571) I want the wings to be about half the size they are now. Steeper. In this design they flare out a bit. In the next design I think they should not flare out at all.

572) Cut green wood in mid-spring and peel two narrow strips off then keep poles off of the ground. The rest of the bark should fall off.

573) Put dirt on when it is hot and dry

Any other ideas?

paul, I wonder if you can modify the roof to use the design of native hogans?

http://www.dennisrhollowayarchitect.com/ColoradoSolarHogan.html

Miles Flansburg wrote:paul, I wonder if you can modify the roof to use the design of native hogans?

http://www.dennisrhollowayarchitect.com/ColoradoSolarHogan.html

What would I gain?

What are those expensive screws doing? Just holding the logs against the poles until backfilled? If so, you should be able to lash them in place--old school vines, baling twine, or wire them like rebar.

On hogans I do not think they use screws etc., just stacking the logs. Also a dome may be stronger?

wowie =)
epic coolness !

i like the big over hang, and wide flared "wings", looks like the beginning of a nice porch/ or transitional inside/outside space. just my two cents, perhaps its a lot of extra material to make it such....

keep up the awesome work =)