1. Mission Plan
  2. Building Practices

Building Practices

We have designed and built 10x10x10 foot cubic structures made with locally milled wood.  Our band-saw mills logs into 4x4 inch cants, beams and boards. Timbers are fitted together then braced with steel rebar (ideally we develop a wood joinery system). Walls are made with milled boards and insulated with straw, clay, cob and finished with lime/cow dung plaster. The cube rests on a stone foundation with an earthen floor. base

Our current buildings are compliant with local government regulations. To circumvent a building permit, structures are small and less than 125 square feet. They also meet the requirement of being temporary, potentially moveable and easily converted into a shed.

These cubic structures are simple, functional, attractive and easily affordable.   They provide heat, shelter and basic cooking and cleaning.  They serve as storage units, workshops and studios for eco villagers. There will be a communal kitchen, bath facility and common spaces. 

Mass heater technology

A mass heater is a highly efficient wood-burning stove that uses a large thermal mass (like cob or masonry) to absorb intense heat from a fast, hot burn, then slowly radiate it for hours, providing steady, radiant warmth with very little fuel and minimal smoke. Its design forces combustion gases through a heat-absorbing mass before exiting the chimney, achieving near-complete burn and high efficiency, heating people directly and secondarily warming spaces, with some models also handling cooking and water heating.
 
 
Our chulha mass heater design is the first of its kind, fusing traditional mud stoves and rocket mass heater technology to create a super efficient cooking facility which is spark-free, an essential need in a high risk forest fire zone. 

Cob and Plaster

We welcome the involvement of those who may have experience in natural building.  Most of our structures will follow a customized format, means quite small and possibly moveable, (but leaving sufficient room for innovation and uniqueness) using cob materials from  straw, earth, rocks and wood. Some living areas will be underground to keep warm in winter and cool in summer. 

Our aim is to construct high quality living earth structures, such as cob benches, wood fired ovens, and adobe saunas encouraging community involvement through educational workshops and gatherings around the finished project, promoting a healthy, simple and creative lifestyle harmonious with the flow of Mother Nature.

By constructing our living spaces in a natural way, we keep our lives simple yet sublime in service to Lord Krishna.