Indigenous Housing

[jonsey/downunder]

Glen,
A question for you. I note that in an earlier post you have some contact with the local tribal people. I was wondering if there is any danger of some information on the type of houses that they built in your area. Specifically passive solar cooling and heating techniques.
The aboriginal people in this area where nomadic hunter gathers, and the structures they built where very basic bark shelters. Still they where designed to catch the breeze and provide shade for the occupants. Basically a sleeping shelter. These humpies where very small just room for one person. Because this is a semi arid area, they where built along the rivers where they could benefit from the better hunting and the cooling breezes off the water.
The people further South where it was cooler and food was more abundant built more permanent stone structures. These structures had the entrance on the northern side to catch the sun and to protect them from the cold southerly winds in the winter. I guess the stone also acted as a thermal mass.  They where dome like and quite small, just enough room for a couple of people, sort of like a small igloo. I think they probably had a number of these scattered around their hunting areas, and would move from time to time so they didn't exhaust the hunting and fishing in any one area.
I hope this qualifies as small home design and John is not going to growl at me for this thread. This is just a little interest of mine.
jonesy.

[John Raabe]

Indigenous housing is a great topic. Much can be learned about the area you live in by how the natives used local resources to keep themselves protected and comfortable.

It's also valuable for us northern hemisphere folks to understand what has worked in the flipped over down under world.

[glenn kangiser]

Sounds like a real interesting subject Jonesy.  I know some but will get more and get back to this.  I have a friend who is a native american who works and horse trades with me sometimes - he and his wife work in Yosemite telling people about this type of information.

Some of their passive heating and cooling was accomplished by moving from summer locations in the mountains to lower locations in the winter.  They gathered acorns in the foothills and there are still many locations around with grinding rocks where they pounded their acorns.

Glenn

[glenn kangiser]

Here is one of the historic Indian cabins from Yosemite area courtesy of the National Park Service.  I realize we are talking earlier than this but I included it as it looks like it should be one of John's plans.

[glenn kangiser]

Here is a sketch of an Indian dwelling called an Umacha in the Miwok language.  The lady who drew the sketch years ago called it an o-chum,  I helped my friend, Ben and his wife Kimberly, repair a couple of them in the Indian village in Yosemite.  They are built of a pole frame covered with long large pieces of cedar bark.  As I remember, cross supports were tied on with wild grape vines.



Link to the picture site with more information.

http://www.yosemite.ca.us/history/yosemite_indians_and_other_sketches/indians.html

[glenn kangiser]

My friends are part of the Miwok and Maidu tribes.  They were mostly hunter- gatherers rather than warring tribes.  Their cultures were fairly similar and both used the  round houses for their ceremonies.  These were semi-subterranean, cone-shaped structures with pole frames, covered with bark, brush, grass, or tule; a fire-pit stands in the center and a hole is left on the top of the dome for air circulation.  Some were also earth covered.   This is a picture of the round house I have attended several Indian sacred ceremonies in.  I would guess it is approximately 40 feet across and 15 feet high with 4' high stacked rock walls around the inside perimeter.  The center is supported by 4 tree posts with beams in the crotches of the tree posts.  Poles radiate out from the center and other poles are tied across them horizontally with wild grape vines then the entire structure is covered with cedar bark.  There is a large fire pit in the center to see the dancers by and warm it.  Smoke exits through the hole in the top center.



Here is a link to the page the picture is from
http://www.earthlanguage.org/yosemite/yose2.htm

[jonsey/downunder]

Great stuff Glen.
Interesting that you mention that those lodges are partially buried. The stone shelters in Victoria are also earth bermed or dug into the north side of small hills. (The sun down this end is to the North)
BTW I have a copy of Mike's book on order; I'm looking forward to getting my hands on that.
jonesy.

[glenn kangiser]

Jonesy, does being upside down like that all the time give you a head rush  You'll enjoy Mikes book.

Here is a picture of Mesa Verde Cliff Palace which I have been to.  I always tried to study how they did things in these buildings.  I am going to landscape my uphill patio like this - making a little cliff dwelling with false fronts with earth plaster walls.  Some of the dwellings there were built around AD 1200.  I'm not sure the total years covered in all the dwellings at this site.



From the NPS site:
 Sandstone, mortar and wooden beams were the three primary construction materials. The Ancestral Puebloans shaped each sandstone block using harder stones collected from nearby river beds. The mortar between the blocks is a mixture of local soil, water and ash. Fitted in the mortar are tiny pieces of stone called "chinking". Chinking stones fill in the gaps within the mortar and added structural stability to the walls. Over the surface of many walls, the people placed a thin coating of paint, called plaster, the first things to erode with time.

Link to the NPS site with lots of information.
http://www.nps.gov/meve/cliff_dwellings/cliff_dwellings_home.htm

[John Raabe]

One of the great books to learn from on this topic is Les Walkers "American Shelter". He presents indigenous housing types as deconstructed structural models so you can understand how they were built.

Here is a PDF link
http://www.countryplans.com/Downloads/american_shelter.PDF
to one of the pages from the book that shows how the NW Indians built their cedar lodges in my part of the planet.

[glenn kangiser]

That looks like an interesting book.  I may have to get one on order soon.

I found another type house I was looking for.  At the east entrance to Yosemite is Mono Lake.  It is a real interesting place with volcanic cones and hot springs all around.  I used to fly in to Lee Vining on the edge of the lake where the history center told of the houses of the Mono Paiute Indians.  The lived near the lake in these and harvested brine fly larvae - a good source of high protien--  with special baskets (that looks like one at the right front of the door) then toasted them over a fire. Yum-yum.  Tasty.  OK- I would try it at least once.



You can get historical prints at this site:
http://www.ushistoricalarchive.com/indians/photos/ct15028.html

[Amanda_931]

That diagram has pretty collar ties.

Are they too far up to do much good?

[glenn kangiser]

I looks like to me that the plank beam supports work as a combination beam and tie keeping from having any outward pressure on the columns so they should work quite well.

[John Raabe]

RE: Indian lodge diagram:

It is quite interesting structurally. The main roof beams are supported by the posts that carry the real weight. The plank cross beams work to carry the upper roof beam weight down onto the main beams.

Remember, this is being done without nails or any metal fasteners. Nothing except maybe some pegging and lashing allow anything to work in tension.

The walls are non-load bearing much like a modern skyscraper. They must be pegged or tied to the roof planks.

Also, this building was designed to be disassembled as the split cedar planks for the walls and roof would probably last through several structures.

Like Mike Oehler and his underground houses, the NW Indians found that bringing the structural supports inside the heated space where they could be kept warm and dry during the wet winters increased the building's longevity by several factors.

[glenn kangiser]

Digging in is not a new or impractical idea. Text from the site linked below: Stretched across six provinces in north central China are the yaodong cave dwellings. In Chinese, the term (pronounced YOW-DOAN) means an arched tunnel.the total number of yaodong dwellers is easily in the millions, making this housing type an example of a vernacular architecture of some scope. (Vernacular architecture refers to indigenous built forms without the aid of "professional" intervention).



Learn more(scroll down when you get to the page):
http://www.spokane.wsu.edu/academic/design/architecture_visit_Yaodong.html

[Amanda_931]

Interesting article.  I wonder if they are going to use all-concrete for them.

(I gather that the concrete industry is a major CO₂ producer)

[glenn kangiser]

Concrete is a favorite of engineers when working with heavy duty loads -and  maybe it is the only large scale practical material to use.  In Mexico, many people don't think a house is top quality unless it is made from solid concrete.  Sometimes their roofs are even solid concrete.  I found this out when I was in Chihuahua working with a steel frame housing company to possibly set up a dealership in the US.  

They took me to Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City for a Government awards ceremony where they received an award for their concepts.  That was a real building.


More info about it here.

http://www.mexicocity.com.mx/castle.html

Recently indigenous wall structures and artifacts  were found near the castle which takes the inhabitation dating back to 600 to 300 AD even before the Aztecs.


Learn about it here.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/teotihuacan/teotihuacan-1-29-04.htm

[John Raabe]

One of the fascinating lessons from Ingenious Housing is learning how to work with local materials to moderate the climate extremes you find yourself in.

In severe climates (especially hot and dry) going partly underground or earth sheltering in some other manner (such as building adobes or rock walls) makes very good sense. In underground construction you need only insulate against the ground temperature not the outside air temperature. With high mass materials you even out day and night temperature fluctuations.

In wet mild climates people want to get up out of the muck or provide drainage away from buildings and have good ventilation for drying.

In wet hot climates dwellers of the tropics designed for maximum ventilation and sun control.

In some ideal climates you don't really need much protection at all and can run around with just a fig leaf!

[glenn kangiser]

BTDT

[glenn kangiser]

Here is a picture of a Tarahumara cave dwelling in Mexico near Creel in the Sierra Madre.  I am pretty sure it is one of the caves I visited while exploring the Copper Canyon area and trying to learn about the Tarahumara indians.  They also had houses but were known for cave dwelling high in the mountains.  They moved into the mountains when the Spaniards came through, conquering Mexico and only recently in 1969 upon the completion of the Chihuahua al Pacifico railway did they commonly meet people from the outside world.  Copper canyon is made up of several river canyons and is larger and deeper than the Grand Canyon.

[jonsey/downunder]

Interesting how whole hole whole communities went underground. I remember seeing a few years ago a housing style somewhere in Sudan or possibly Afghanistan where they dug a large hole in the ground. This hole formed a sort of town square and small dwellings where dug into the sides all round. The hole was also a water collector for the little rainfall that fell in that area.
Here in Australia we have a town known for its unique style of underground living. Coober Pedy is an opal mining town in South Australia. About 80 per cent of the population live underground. The reason for this is that the temperature can rise to 50°C in summer and it has been known to rise to 60°C. The annual rainfall in the area is minimal at around 175 mm (5 inches) per annum and can fall any time of the year. Coober Pedy was originally known as the Stuart Range Opal Field, named after John McDouall Stuart, who in 1858 was the first European explorer in the area. In 1920 it was re-named Coober Pedy, an anglicised version of Aboriginal words "kupa piti", commonly assumed to mean "white man in a hole". Water there is quite expensive at about $5 for 1,000 litres. The town water supply comes from an underground source 24 kilometres north of the town, is pumped through an underground pipeline to the water works where it is treated by reverse osmosis and pumped through a reticulated town water supply system.
jonesy

[jonsey/downunder]

There is a new type of cement being developed here in Australia called Eco-Cement. It is made by blending reactive magnesium oxide with conventional hydraulic cements. The magnesium oxide will first hydrate using water and then carbonate, forming strength giving minerals in a low alkaline matrix. Many different wastes can be used as aggregates and fillers without reaction problems due to the low alkaline levels.
Eco-cement is used to make porous concrete's, that absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere to set and harden.
Here is a link to the inventors web site  http://www.tececo.com.au/index.php

jonesy

[JRR]

"Copper Canyon"... circa 1950.  Ray Milland, Hedy Lamar, McDonald Carey, ...

[glenn kangiser]

Interesting information, Jonsey.  I'm thinking of having my name changed to Coober Pedy now.  It would be easier to say than my current name and the meaning would fit.

Copper Canyon - full of history and a great place to go (as long as you don't have one of those bad experiences like getting shot by drug growers- the number one cause of bullet wounds to the indians).

Now to France -old cave dwellings -many still lived in.

Here is the cave we stayed in in Troo, France that inspired the underground cabin.  Most of these caves are hundreds of years old.  This is the cave I filled with smoke by building the fire too fast.  The cave was originally open to the church on the hill above as an escape route.  It has since been blocked off.



The caves were dug in the limestone cliffs of the Loir river valley walls for a defensible space against the war parties that were common in times past.

Here is an accurate sketch of the front from their site.  Our cave was at the top of the steps.  Bernard and Barbara's (owners) was just above ours.



More pics here.

http://www.bandbcave.com/

Some of the caves in the next town down river went 5 kilometers.

Here is another picture of the front of our cave and more info at a different site.  The cave below, left used to be a bakery and the cave on the bottom straight ahead goes to the old town water supply.  There is still nice clear water in it.  The window at the top went to the owners cave.  They said it was quite a remodel project putting the picture window in the front of the cave.



Info:
http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/content/news/travel0924.html;COXnetJSessionID=CuRLdAHoTUEkW1mKUsI3IL9tlihM9UzCuh7dWtrUQKRlbgY0RK8z!-1804650266?urac=n&urvf=11103482351640.30441108380976956

[John Raabe]

I'll throw my 2¢ into this interesting discussion.

I did a schematic proposal recently for a hillside development cut and anchored back into a wet unstable hill of sand, gravel and sediments that rises above the marina in my small WA town. For years I'd seen this thing in my mind every time I walked along the top of the bluff — a friend finally got me to draw it up.

http://www.countryplans.com/Downloads/bluff-project.PDF

What is interesting to this discussion is not the proposal, but the examples of terraced hillside developments, especially the one in Yemen on p. 5. Those buildings are built with sun dried mud and adobe and can rise many stories. They've been around for several hundred years.

[glenn kangiser]

That looks like a great project and information, John.  I really like the Yemen photo.  

I read somewhere about soil stabilization where they drill holes into the slope and pump in concrete or something- maybe with fiber mesh.  I don't remember the whole process.  It was supposed to be relatively cost effective compared to other methods.

I wonder why the back of your napkins look better than the back of my napkins after the sketching is done

Ken Kern mentioned that the USDA had done studies on bearing strengths of properly made earthen walls as an affordable building solution but had dropped it when industry started to complain.  He mentioned that even at a compressive strength of 100 lbs per sq. inch, one square foot of earthen wall would support 14400 lbs-- well over what is required to hold up most roof systems with the dead load of the wall only taking about 2000 lbs of that.  Cement stabilized can easily go over 300 psi.  Cob is monolithic and can curve so much stronger than an adobe block wall of the same size.