Nader Khalili ~ Ceramic and dirt bag houses

NADER KHALILI, Architect and Author

Cal-Earth - (The California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture)
Founded and directed by the internationally renowned architect and author Nader Khalili in 1986, it's scope spans technical innovations published by NASA ...
www.calearth.org/

Nader Khalili is an architect, author, teacher, and innovator of Geltaftan firing of ceramic houses and Superadobe Superblock technology.
www.calearth.org/khalili.htm

Amazon.com: Ceramic Houses and Earth Architecture: How to build, step by step, an adobe and ceramic architecture that is .... In particular, the details of firing a house into its ceramic status is not only ...

Earth Construction House Building Books & Videos: The Rammed Earth House is an eye-opening example of how the most dramatic ... Nader Khalili's ideas on ceramic houses and earth architecture...

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SAD NEWS:

Nader Khalili, Noted Earth Architect, Dies at 72
Architectural Record, By Tony Illia, April 21, 2008


Nader Khalili

Nader Khalili, an Earth Architect and teacher known for his innovative work with adobe, died on March 5 of congestive heart failure. He was 72 years old. Among his best-known inventions is the “super adobe” Earthbag construction system. He developed it during the early 1980s in response to a call for designs for human settlements on the Moon and Mars by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The system consists of oblong plastic bags that are filled with dirt and then laid in circular courses, like the blocks of an igloo, and held in place by barbed wire. When covered in stucco, the bags create form a permanent shelter.

Khalili championed Earthbag houses—which cost as little as $500—as an affordable solution for poverty stricken areas in Africa, India, and South America. He received special recognition from the United Nations for his “Housing for the Homeless” proposal in 1987 and his prototypes were recognized with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004. Khalili also invented the Geltaftan Earth-and-Fire system. Most adobe houses are unable to withstand earthquakes and strong winds, so Kahlili imagined a fired-adobe structure—dubbed the “ceramic house”—that could resist these elements.



Earthbag shelter
Photos courtesy Cal-Earth Institute

Nader Khalili (top) designed the Earthbag shelter (middle), which was recognized with the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004. When these sandbags are covered with wire mesh and stucco, they become low-cost permanent housing (above).