Course Details
Where are we Building?
We are excited to bring the Clay Sand Soul workshop experience to balmy Puerto Rico this coming winter, January 18-February 22, when temperatures in our home base of Oregon make building with clay quite challenging! This will be our second time building with cob on the island, and we’re so excited to be returning to a new location: Montaña Manatí. Located minutes from the north shore and less than an hour from San Juan (airport) , Moñtana Manatí is a permaculture retreat center owned by Julia Maritza and her mother. Julia was part of the large Puerto Rican diaspora in the Northeastern US who decided to leave the bustling city life and endeavor to create a life lived closer to the land and in community of like-minded individuals on the island of her ancestors. We are grateful to have been asked to lead a natural building workshop on their beautiful property, and we hope that you join us in bringing to life a 180 sq. ft circular cob pavillion, or “comedor”, inside of which many meals will be enjoyed and many stories shared.
What Are We Building?
This 5-week workshop will be focused on completing a 180 sq ft (16.7 sq meters) circular monolithic (no framing) cob structure, which will be used for hosting meals at Moñtana Manatí. It will be an addition to the outdoor kitchen area that guests and volunteers use while camping on the property. The foundation will likely be built from recycled concrete slab (urbanite) that students will construct during the first week of the class. The walls will be solid cob, (clay, sand, and straw) formulated from the clay soil excavated on site. Students will learn how to install doors and windows in the cob wall, along with decorative bottles and other functional/decorative wall features like built-in benches and shelving. We will plaster the walls with a mix of clay and lime plasters, learn how to make clay paints, and sculpt artistic elements into the walls for a truly unique build. The roof portion of the class will teach students how to erect a reciprocal fame and use a waterproof membrane to create a living “green” roof from site soil and sand. The workshop will conclude by mixing and pouring an earthen floor, and students will learn how to oil and care for this type of floor.