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In This Issue...
June 15th Member Meeting
Cob Forum
SBIC Workshops on Green Building
SBC
Calendar:
June 15th - Member Meeting at Casa de Luz
June 18th - Cob Forum
Local
Austin Workshops:
Every 1st Saturday of the month - Electrical Wiring
Every 2nd Saturday of the month - Basic Carpentry
All of these workshops are presented by Janet's Solar Electric and they are for women only. For fees and
hours, please call 275-0557 or visit www.janetssolarelectric.com
Take a look at The Good Life and read more about Green Building and one of our own "supremes"
Frank Meyer. Read the article and learn more, much more, about green building.
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June 15th Member Meeting: The Simple Pleasures of Sun Watching
with Robert Jackson, Architect
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We are part of a grand solar system and are affected everyday
by the sun, moon, stars and planets, yet most of our buildings
do not acknowledge the cycles and forces of these “neighbors”.
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the ancients and our ancestors, we spend little time observing
and responding to that celestial body that makes possible
our very existence – the Sun. While some of us recognize
and respond to the solar radiation striking our homes and
other buildings, few modern human structures reveal, maximize,
and celebrate the Sun and the seasons.
Using
his firm’s design of the fabulous Westcave Preserve
Center as a reference, Austin architect Robert Jackson will
discuss sun-watching and the apparent motion of the sun
through the seasons. He will touch on an assortment of subjects
including: the solstices, zenith tubes, Eratosthenes, Santa
Maria degli Angeli, Fajada Butte, Paint Rock TX., meridians,
the equinox, analemmas, the north star, color and direction
and show a few recent buildings that track the seasons.
Robert Jackson is a principal of Jackson & McElhaney Architects,
Austin, Texas. In addition to the Westcave Preserve Center, this
award-winning firm has produced outstanding projects such as Schlumberger
Austin Systems Center and The Lakehouse Spa. The firm’s
residential and commercial work can be viewed here.
A follow up site visit to Jackson & McElhaney's sustainable, sun-responsive project at Westcave Preserve
is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, June 25. Watch the SBC website or an email from SBC for confirmation and details.
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Please join
Robert to learn more about designing with the sun.
SBC meets every 3rd Wednesday of the month at 7 pm at Casa
de Luz, 1701 Toomey Road in the Cielo Room. You are welcome
to join us before the meeting at 6 pm for a wonderful macrobiotic
meal at Casa de Luz.
Cob Forum hosted by Gayle Borst at homestead of Terri and Ari
Finch-Koinuma
Saturday, June 18 - 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
The interest in cob construction has been increasing in Central
Texas. While there are a few of us in the area with cob experience,
cob resources are limited and we have been without a professional
cob builder for years. For cob to be viable in our area, we need
to develop a more solid educational and service base. So we are
convening an informal gathering of people interested in cob to
talk about what is needed to make cob happen.
The agenda is loosely as follows:
- History of cob in Central Texas
- Why cob works in our climate
- What knowledge/teaching resources are needed?
- Kindra Welch – Cob Cottage Company apprentice program
graduate and possible new professional cob builder for Central
Texas
- Local material resources & sharing of sources
- How to make cob less “labor intensive”
- Cob questions and answers
We will have a display of cob resources and pictures of local
and other cob projects. Please feel free to bring pictures and
resources to share with the group.
Please bring a lunch and plenty of water/beverage. We will meet
outside (in the shade) at Terri and Ari’s homestead. Bring
a lawn chair or blanket to sit on if possible. Because of pesky
fire ants and mosquitoes, please wear tennis shoes (no sandals!)
and bring mosquito repellent. Sunscreen is also recommended.
Terri and
Ari are currently working on a new structure that will be post-and-beam
with bale infill. If anyone is interested, a very informal discussion
of this work-in-progress will take place after the cob forum.
Directions
to Terri and Ari's homestead:
From Austin, take Highway 71 East. You will pass the airport
and will go over the overpass over Highway 21. A few miles after
Highway 21, turn right onto Farm Road 20. (It only goes right.)
After about a mile, turn right onto Shiloh Road. (There is a white
church with a green roof on the left.) After a mile on Shiloh,
the road takes a very sharp right-hand turn, followed by a very
sharp left. Immediately after these turns, turn left onto Armadillo
Lane. It is a gravel road with a lot of big potholes. The house
is the second gate on the right. Please drive in and park on the
driveway or the grass.
In case of
rain, the forum will be rescheduled. If the weather is threatening
and you are unsure as to whether this outdoor event will occur,
please call or email one of us at the addresses / numbers above.
For more information, contact Gayle Borst, gayle@stewardshiparchitecture.com
(512-478-9033) or Terri Finch-Koinuma, terri@hashimusic.com (512-308-0051)
SBIC Workshops on Green Building
Thank you for the opportunity to alert you to Sustainable Buildings
Industry Council’s customized resource that can help you build integrated
design processes, through a “whole” new approach to high-performance
sustainability.
Premised on a comprehensive understanding of a “whole building” and on
an analysis of the interdependencies of its systems, the approach
appreciates all high-performance considerations such as: the co-dependency
of site access, building orientation and storm water runoff, in addition
to HVAC, fire protection, security and acoustics.
SBIC is offering this workshop to give you a thorough understanding of
water conservation, indoor environmental quality, site planning and
building design issues, with topics including:
- Daylighting
- Natural ventilation
- Passive solar heating
- Energy-efficient lighting/systems
- Building integrated photovoltaics
- HVAC control strategies
- Distributed energy generation
- Acoustics
- Security
- Green Rating Systems (LEED, ENERGY STAR)
- Energy-efficient design software - ENERGY-10
For more information on SBIC Workshops or SBIC’s Ecobuild America
event, visit their website.
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