Press release for the Kensington Children's Cottage
From GLGI
July 27, 2006
KENSINGTON FARM OFFERS WORKSHOP ON NATURAL BUILDING,
HOW TO MAKE COMPRESSED EARTH BLOCKS, STRAWBALE WALLS
MILFORD, Mich. - Organizations involved in constructing the largest public natural building in Michigan are offering to teach the art of natural building techniques to area residents.
From 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Aug. 12 and 13, Kensington Farm Learning Center will hold a Natural Building Workshop to cover the basic principles and hands-on experience in constructing compressed earth blocks and strawbale walls. Cost for the two-day workshop is $25 and the workshop is limited to 20 participants. An optional tool-making workshop (included in the cost) is also being held on Friday evening, Aug. 11, from 6:30-9 p.m.
Kensington Metro Park is the hub of a natural building project this summer. The River Raisin Institute (RRI) of Monroe took the lead in sponsoring a naturally built children's cottage on the site of the Kensington Farm Center. RRI, in collaboration with several other partnering organizations, is constructing the cottage with compressed earth block and strawbale walls. The cottage will serve as a classroom for the center and will house 20-25 children.
According to Mike Neumann, executive director of RRI, the cottage incorporates five different natural building techniques. In addition to strawbale and compressed earth block, the cottage's south wall, which is being built with natural stone, will incorporate natural light. Its roof will be constructed with thatch and reused timber framing from ash trees that died on the property from the Emerald Ash Borer.
The thatch roof will come from a plant called phragmites - an invasive and aggressive variety not native to Michigan. It will be harvested next winter and put on the roof next spring. Neumann says a thatch roof has a life span of 30 to 40 years and is easy and cheap to maintain.
"People can easily do this kind of construction themselves," he says. "It's affordable, high-quality and healthy - for us and the earth. These are not new techniques. They are based on time-tested methods of construction and natural materials used and refined for thousands of years. Many of us are rediscovering these methods and materials."
Another feature of the Kensington Children's Cottage project is the educational focus. Not only will the organizers offer several workshops on natural building, the project also includes educational opportunities for young people. Tom Brennan, an RRI board member who is also actively involved with the Great Lakes Green Initiative, another partner in the project, introduced an environmental journalism component for students.
Working with the Knight School of Journalism at Michigan State University, Brennan recruited two college journalism students who are mentoring a group of area high school students. The high school students are documenting the different phases of the cottage construction and posting podcasts, photography and video on the Great Lakes Green Initiatives Web site www.glgi.org
And a faculty member and two students from the Monroe Community College construction management program developed and built the, cinva ram, a manual press used to make the compressed earth blocks. Students who are part of the Gesu School Garden Club will also participate in the project this month.
Architect Bob Prudhomme, a member of the RRI board and a green builder, says, "The cottage will probably be the largest public natural building in Michigan. There was a strawbale house approved in Washtenau County, but it never got built."
In addition to RRI, other partners involved in the Kensignton Children's Cottage project include the Great Lakes Greening Initiative, the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority, Robert B. Prudhomme Design, New Harvest Homes Inc. and the Strawbale Studio.
Those interested in participating in the Aug. 11-13 Natural Building Workshop should register by calling Kensington Metropark at 248-685-1561, and asking for Debbie Cavallaro or Chris Williams.
The River Raisin Institute, which was established in 2004 by the IHM Sisters of Monroe as an independent nonprofit, sponsors educational works to improve the well-being of all creation through the promotion of sustainable systems of living.
