How to Build a Reciprocal Roof Frame (aka Mandala Roof)

How to Build a Reciprocal Roof Frame Mandala Roof

“A reciprocal roof is a beautiful and simple self-supporting structure that can be composed of as few as three rafters, and up to any imaginable quantity (within reason, of course). Reciprocal roofs require no center support, they are quick to construct, and they can be built using round poles or dimensional lumber (perhaps with some creative notching). They are extremely strong, perfect for round buildings, and very appropriate for living roofs, as well.”

How to build a reciprocal roof frame. Practice with matches first.

Related: How to build an earthbag dome.

Via Judit Bellostes.

How to Build an Earthbag Dome

earthbag home

“Domes are the strongest form in nature and easily support enormous forces. They create the most floor space for a given length of wall. There are no wasted corners. The feeling inside is magical. Those who live in domes (and roundhouses) most likely never live in boxes again. Wind flows around domes and does not build up pressure against them.”

“You can build domes without wood. You can build domes with minimal tools and materials – no nails, no wood, no plywood, no shingles. This makes domes a good candidate for those who lack carpentry skills and for emergency shelters for disaster areas and war refugees. Give people some rice or grain bags and a little training, and soon they can build their own sturdy, safe shelters.”

Step-by-Step Earthbag Building Instructable. Via Make.

Engineering for the Ecological Age: Lessons from History

Lower Calyx dome under construction All three tile layers are visible photos Michael Ramage

Engineering for the ecological age: lessons from history” (video) by John Ochsendorf. Skip the extremely irritating introduction to the speaker and start at 10:50. Via Ecodemica. Related: Tiles as a substitute for steel: the art of the timbrel vault & Timbrel vaulting in South Africa. Photo: Michael Ramage.

Why Older Buildings are More Sustainable

why older buildings are more sustainable

“In the late 14th century, England’s King Richard II commissioned a new building, College Hall, at Oxford University. The carpenters who built College Hall knew that the massive oak beams spanning the great hall’s ceiling would probably need to be replaced in a few hundred years, so next to the building, they planted a row of oak seedlings from the trees they used for the beams. Sure enough, the beams needed to be replaced about 300 years later, and the new carpenters had mature oaks right there, ready to be milled and turned into new beams.”

Greening Main Street Buildings (more). The picture shows an example of a recessed entryway – a characteristic common to many traditional commercial buildings that helps prevent hot or cold air from rushing inside when a door is opened.

Once more, hat tip to Lloyd Alter.

Timbrel Vaulting in South Africa by Peter Rich Architects

Mapungubwe 12 Reader Sergio Carratalá informs us of yet another recent example of timbrel vaulting – a medieval building method that we described extensively in “Tiles as a substitute for steel“.

It concerns the Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre in South Africa, designed by Peter Rich Architects from Johannesburg. The project won the World Building Award at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) held in Barcelona last month.

The Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre, which is built to house artifacts from the region’s prehistory, was constructed using local materials and using the skills and labour of local people. Unemployed South Africans were trained in the manufacture of earth tiles and in building the
timbrel vaults.

Mapungubwe 17 Timbrel vaulting (or “Catalan vaulting”) is being rediscovered as an ecological building technique because it saves large amounts of building materials and thus embodied energy. This also makes it a cheap building method, at least in regions were hand labour is affordable. Via Sergio Carratalá.

More pictures below (courtesy of Peter Rich and the WAF).

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Building With Whole Trees

Whole Trees Architecture via The New York Times.