Love Your Mud!
February 27th, 2020, by Jake Bauer, City Repair Building Intern
A cob bench called the Lighthouse.
As part of The City Repair Project’s workshop series, the “Love Your Mud Potluck and Workshop” provided communities participating in the Village Building Convergence (VBC), as well as the interested public, with fundamental knowledge of natural building and its relevance to the sustainable design of the built environment. The evening began with food, introductions from the natural building team, as well as a land acknowledgment to honor the indigenous peoples; such as, Multnomah, Clackamas, and Chinook, as well as the sentient beings that make up the surrounding area.
Next came presentations from folks of the natural building team: Sprouting Seed, Michael (Mikey) Lobdell, Frances Lakeman Michaelson, as well as guest speaker and natural builder extraordinaire, Bernhard Masterson. Seed, after the land acknowledgement, segued into the importance of natural building as a means of preserving the traditions of native people as well as creating a stronger connection with the built spaces we inhabit and the land surrounding it. He continued his presentation with his personal journey and how his experience working on natural building projects has helped shape his values. He will use this experience to help guide VBC sites to make their natural building idea into a reality.
The next presentation led by Mikey, who has participated in the VBC before and also has countless experience with natural building, gave more background knowledge on the subject as well as his journey working with the city of Portland on his current project, a timber-framed accessory dwelling unit (ADU). He explains the challenges of building a structure like this, which is built using a construction technique referred to as joinery, where no metal or braces are used to hold up the structure, is that there are a lack of examples around the city to use as models when trying to get it through permitting. As a result, Mikey explains his process of getting through the permitting phase through design drawings and partnering with an engineer. He hopes by working on this project, it will make the process easier for similar projects in the future.
Frances then began her presentation, starting off with more information on how natural building was part of the beginning of City Repair as an institution in 1996. Then went on to explain how the use of natural building has grown throughout the years and where the City Repair team hopes to go in the future. Frances, then went into her development as a natural builder and how she was influenced at a young age by her father, a builder himself. Although, it wasn’t until the VBC in 2009 where she worked alongside a very encouraging and empowering figure, Eva, who pushed Frances further along into her natural building journey. Since then, Frances has worked on countless projects ranging from cob benches to natural playscapes and has continued to sharpen her skills. She hopes to spread her knowledge of natural building as a means to facilitate growth, creativity and confidence to those participating.
The night began winding down with the presentation of Bernhard Masterson, a key figure who has been pushing natural building in the region for quite some time. He advocates for natural building in preference to traditional building techniques for a variety of reasons. One example is that the materials are natural thus are far less toxic and contribute to a healthier environment for people. Additionally, due to some of the techniques, it is a great way to spark community engagement. His presentation then transitioned to natural building in relevance to the VBC. He presents different resources and tips for projects sites; such as, the importance of writing recipe books for plaster or creating a maintenance plan for the structure. He even went through some potential advice on how to deal with rain and other circumstances that may arise.
The night then concluded with breakout groups of natural building sites talking with people of the natural building team. They began discussing potential questions sites had as well as making sure the projects were feasible, many attendees left with more knowledge of natural building than they had coming in and appreciated the breadth of information from how to build to navigating government permits. The natural building team will continue their dialogue with the sites to help bring their projects to fruition for the upcoming 20th anniversary of the VBC.
The straw bale house and workshop location.
For those wanting to get more involved with natural building, The City Repair Project will be hosting a workshop titled “Earthen Plaster on Straw Bale Home” Sunday on March 8th, in congruence with International Women’s day. The event is scheduled for 10:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m at the location of 8571 Southeast Flavel Drive, Portland, OR, 97206.
For more information about the event visit: https://cityrepair.org/calendar
Additionally, a copy of the Village Building Convergence Presentation by Bernard Masterson, as well as more information regarding his background, past projects, plus workshop and volunteer opportunities can be found on his website: http://www.bernhardmasterson.com/
Jake Bauer is a native of West Virginia, where he studied landscape architecture and sustainable design. He hopes to further his education by pursuing architecture aimed at creating closed looped systems within the urban fabric. He is excited to work with the placemaking team in the City Repair Project to help foster a strong sense of place within communities and connecting people with both the landscape as well as each other. Outside of work, Jake enjoys sketching, exploring the outdoors, and spending quality time with friends and family.