NADER KHALILI

An Architect & Author

 Nader Khalili, California architect/author is the world renowned Earth
Architecture teacher and innovator of the Geltaftan Earth-and-Fire System
known as Ceramic Houses, and of the Superblock construction system.
Khalili received his philosophy and architectural education in Iran, Turkey,
and the United States.
 He has been a licensed architect in the State of California since 1970, and
has practiced both in the U.S. and abroad.
 Since 1975 he has been involved with Earth Architecture and Third World
Development, and is a U.N. (UNIDO) consultant for Earth Architecture, the
Ceramic Houses and SuperBlock Technologies.
 In 1984 the award for "Excellence in Technology" went to him for the
innovation of the Ceramic Houses system, from the California Council of the
American Institute of Architects (CCAIA), and in 1987 Khalili's project
"Housing for the Homeless: Research and Education" received a Certificate
of Special Recognition from the U.N. International Year of Shelter for the
Homeless and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
 Since 1984, Lunar and Space habitation have become an integral part of his
work; his "Magma Structures" design, based on the Geltaftan (Ceramic
Houses) System, and "Velcro-Adobe" system (later to become the
Superblock/ sandbag and barbed wire system) were presented at the 1984
NASA symposium, "Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century".
 He was subsequently invited to Los Alamos National Laboratory as a visiting
scientist. He has presented papers and has been published since 1984 in
several symposiums and publications including those of NASA, and the
"Journal of Aerospace Engineering" for which he was awarded by the
American Society of Civil Engineers. Khalili was a member of the team of
the "Lunar Resources Processing Project," along with the Princeton -based
Space Studies Institute, McDonnell Douglas Space Systems, and Alcoa.
 Since 1982 Khalili has been directing the Architectural Research Program at
SCI-Arc, California. He is the director and founder of the Geltaftan
Foundation, and the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (Cal-
Earth) since 1986. Current projects include the Sustainable Desert Village
and Hesperia Museum & Nature Center, the Rodeo/Arena for the Mojave
Desert city of Hesperia, erosion stabilization of Hesperia Lake, a FEMA
related project.
 At Cal-Earth he continues building and testing prototypes in Earth
Architecture for inclusion in the Uniform Building Code.
  Recent work has been funded by grants from the National Endowment for
the Arts, the Katharine Tremaine Foundation, the Rex Foundation, the
Leventis Foundation, Our Ultimate Investment Foundation, and the Turner
Foundation.

His four books were written while evolving these

techniques and his philosophy of architecture. "Racing Alone", and "Ceramic
Houses and Earth Architecture: How to Build Your Own", while developing the
Geltaftan "Earth and Fire" system for building ceramic houses; "Sidewalks on the
Moon", while designing for the moon, a journey through tradition and
technology; and "Rumi, Fountain of Fire", translations of 75 poems from the
Persian language mysti c poet, Rumi whose wisdom concerning humanity and the
elements of Earth, Water, Air and Fire are the inspiration behind his work.

Nader Khalili, a Persian architect who has gotten the Aga Khan Award for
Architecture has come up with a way to build ceramic houses that are

a) dirt-cheap

b) environmentally friendly

c) earthquake resistant

d) flood- resistant

e) fireproof
 f) hurricane resistant.

The basic construction technique involves filling sandbags with earth

and laying them in circular courses that are corbelled near the top to form a
dome. Barbed wire laid between courses prevents the sandbags from shifting
and provides earthquake resistance. Ironically, it is the materials of war -
sandbags and barbed wire - that bind together traditional earth architecture
with contemporary safety requirements.

The system uses the timeless forms of arches, domes, and vaults to
create single and double-curvature shell structures that are both strong and
beautiful. In addition to providing earthquake resistance, the aerodynamic
form resists hurricanes. The use of sandbags aids flood resistance, and the
earth itself provides insulation and fireproofing.

Nader Khalili
Architect developed techniques for building adobe housing

 Nader Khalili, an architect who developed low-budget adobe housing for

emergency shelter and poverty-stricken areas, died March 5 of congestive
heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to his
son, Dastan. He was 72.

 Khalili founded the Cal-Earth Institute in the desert near Hesperia, where
students learned how to build his dome-shaped houses. He also taught
architecture at the Southern California Institute of Architecture for
many years.

 His simplest design consisted of oblong plastic bags filled with dirt and held
in place by barbed wire, a “super adobe” structure that cost under $500 to
build. His other model was a fired-clay “ceramic” house that was more
refined and could accommodate the rich colors of fired clay bowls
and vases.

 In lectures and demonstrations he proposed his super adobe structures as a

housing solution for the poor in Central and South America, Africa, India
and elsewhere around the world.
 “Nader saw architecture as an essential social service,” said Eric Owen
Moss, director of the Southern California Institute of Architecture. “He was
constantly looking for ways to serve the poor, disinherited areas of the
world.”

 After an early career building high-rise apartments and parking structures in

Southern California and in his native Iran, Khalili was disenchanted with
what he referred to as the asbestos ceilings and lead paint walls of modern
buildings. He returned to Iran in the mid-1970s and toured rural villages by
motorcycle, looking at housing structures that were closer to nature.

 Most of the adobe houses he saw could not withstand earthquakes and
strong winds. He imagined a fired-adobe structure that would resist the
elements. That led him to his ceramic house system. He then fashioned his
cheaper, easier to make, bag-and-barbed-wire technology.

 Back in California, Khalili “put his heart into housing for people who, in his
view, had no alternatives,” Moss said.

 When many architects began thinking of globalization as a means, “to build

Chicago in Central Africa,” Moss said, “Nader wasn’t in that game. He
wanted to deal with the millions of people who don’t have water lines. That
was his priority.”

 In the mid-1990s the Hesperia department of Recreation and Parks created

the Hesperia Museum and Nature Center to showcase Khalili’s designs.
Several model structures are in place. A community center will open this
year.

 Khalili’s prototypes have not been widely adopted in the U.S. because they
don’t meet key building code requirements, said Cal Camara, general
manager of the Hesperia Park District. They also aren’t considered a good
fit for standardized cabinets, kitchen appliances and the like, he said.

 Visitors to the domes, including many from abroad, have been inspired,
however. “This is a building you can make by yourself,” Camara said.
“Nader had a very positive influence on people trying to help themselves in
life.”
  Born in Tehran on Feb. 22, 1936, Khalili attended the University of Tehran
for a year where he studied Persian literature and poetry. The poems of
Rumi and other medieval Persian mystics continued to inspire him and are
quoted on Khalili’s website.

 In the 1950s he moved to Istanbul, Turkey, and studied engineering and

architecture at the Istanbul Technical University. From there he traveled to
New York City, continued on to San Francisco and finally settled in Los
Angeles in the early 1960s.

 He began teaching at the Southern California Institute of Architecture in the

early 1980s and opened his Cal-Earth Institute to students and others
interested in his work.

 He traveled widely to lecture, and in the mid-1980s he expanded his

interests to include lunar dwellings. He presented a paper on the subject
during a NASA symposium in 1984.

 He wrote several books, including the autobiographical “Racing Alone,” and

“Ceramic Houses and Earth Architecture: How to Build Your Own.”

 In 1984 Khalili’s design for a ceramic house received the award for
excellence in technology from the California Council of the American
Institute of Architects. He was presented a certificate of special recognition
by the United Nations in 1987 for his “Housing for the Homeless” proposal,
using his super adobe sandbag technique.

 Khalili was married three times. With his son, he is survived by his wife,
Iliona; daughter Sheefteh; four brothers and four sisters.

Eco-Dome: "Moon Cocoon"

The Eco-Dome is a small home of approximately 400 square feet (40 sq. meters)
interior space. It consists of a large central dome, surrounded by four smaller
niches and a wind-scoop, in a clover leaf pattern.

Learning and building an Eco-Dome is the next stage after building a small
emergency shelter and provides hands-on learning experience in the essential
aspects of Superadobe construction. It's small size of approximately 400 square
feet (interior space), makes it a manageable structure for the first time owner
builder.
The finished "very small house" is self-contained and can become a small guest
house, studio apartment, or be the first step in a clustered design for community
use in an Eco-Village of vaults and domes.
Some features of the Eco-Dome include:
1. Built from local earth-filled Superadobe coils (earth stabilized with cement
or lime).
2. Tree free.
3. Maximum use of space through alternative options. The main dome and four
niches, depending on local code approval, can function as:
 1. main living room, entrance hall, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom (called
"bed-womb" because of it's small, organic form!)
2. living room, entrance hall, and three bed-rooms.
3. living room, entrance hall, two bedrooms, and a bathroom.
4. Self-contained single unit (potential for a guest house or studio apartment) or
double unit (larger family residence).
5. Can be repeated and joined together to form larger homes and courtyard
houses.
6. Can be built by a team of 3-5 persons.
7. Designed with the sun, shade and wind for passive cooling and heating.
8. Wind-scoop can be combined with a rated furnace unit, depending on local
code approval. Solar energy and radiant heating may be incorporated.
9. Interior furniture can be built-in with same material.

1. The Eco-Dome construction kit package (single unit) includes: documentary

step-by-step DVD "Eco-Dome, building a small home", construction documents
(mini-version, including the construction specification), unfilled Superadobe
roll/earth-bags, educational book on Superadobe construction entitled "Sandbag
Shelter and Eco-Village".

2. The full Eco-Dome blueprint package (double unit) includes: construction

document blueprints, engineering calculations as permitted under the 1997 UBC /
2001 California Code, construction specification, title 24 energy calculations, and
the engineering record. All plans are numbered. Additional charge of 25% for each
repeated unit.
The above plans and materials are used in the Cal-Earth apprenticeship courses.
[Iran] Sanbag Shelter - Nader Khalili

I will show you what to me, is an exelent way to made architecture,

how we can make, with few and natural resources, great space design,
and at the same time, solve differents social problems, one of the
principal motives and preocupations, to the modern architectuer.
Well Here it goes the Sandbag Shelter, i will made the formal
presentation below, i love this structure-design-solution, i have no
word to describe it, besides, my english is very poor... i try to do my
best!

Sanbag Shelter - Nader Khalili

The global need for housing includes millions refugees and displaced persons –
victims of natural disasters and wars. Iranian architect Nader Khalili believes that
this need can be addressed only by using the potential of earth construction.

After extensive research into vernacular earth building methods in Iran, followed
by detailed prototyping, he has developed the sandbag or ‘superadobe’ system.
The basic construction technique involves filling sandbags with earth and laying
them in courses in a circular plan. The circular courses are corbelled near the top
to form a dome. Barbed wire is laid between courses to prevent the sandbags
from shifting and to provide earthquake resistance. Hence the materials of war –
sandbags and barbed wire – are used for peaceful ends, integrating traditional
earth architecture with contemporary global safety requirements.

The system employs the timeless forms of arches, domes and vaults to create
single and double-curvature shell structures that are both strong and aesthetically
pleasing. While these load-bearing or compression forms refer to the ancient
mudbrick architecture of the Middle East, the use of barbed wire as a tensile
element alludes to the portable tensile structures of nomadic cultures. The result
is an extremely safe structure. The addition of barbed wire to the compression
structures creates earthquake resistance; the aerodynamic form resists
hurricanes; the use of sandbags aids flood resistance; and the earth itself provides
insulation and fireproofing.
Several design prototypes of domes and vaults were built and tested. The system
is particularly suitable for providing temporary shelter because it is cheap and
allows buildings to be quickly erected by hand by the occupants themselves with
a minimum of training. The shelters focus on the economic empowerment of
people by participation in the creation of their own homes and communities.

Each shelter comprises one major domed space with some ancillary spaces for
cooking and sanitary services. Incremental additions such as ovens and animal
shelters can also be made to provide a more permanent status and the
technology can also be used for both buildings and infrastructure such as roads,
kerbs, retaining walls and landscaping elements.

Because the structures use local resources – on-site earth and human hands –
they are entirely sustainable. Men and women, old and young, can build since the
maximum weight lifted is an earth-filled can to pour into the bags. Barbed wire
and sandbags are supplied locally, and the stabilizer is also usually locally sourced.

Since 1982, Nader Khalili has developed and tested the Superadobe prototype in
California. In 1991 he founded the California Institute of Earth Art and
Architecture (Cal-Earth), a non-profit research and educational organization that
covers everything from construction on the moon and on Mars to housing design
and development for the world’s homeless for the United Nations. Cal-Earth has
focused on researching, developing and teaching the technologies of Superadobe.
The prototypes have not only received California building permits but have also
met the requirements of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) for emergency housing. Both the UNHCR and the United Nations
Development Programme have chosen to apply the system, which they used in
1995 to provide temporary shelters for a flood of refugees coming into Iran from
Iraq.

Khalili’s educational philosophy has also continued to develop. A distance-

teaching programme is being tested for the live broadcast of hands-on instruction
directly from Cal-Earth. Many individuals have been trained at Cal-Earth to build
with these techniques and are carrying this knowledge to those in need in many
countries of the world, from Mongolia to Mexico, India to the United States, and
Iran, Brazil, Siberia, Chile and South Africa.
The prototype is a symbiosis of tradition and technology. It employs vernacular
forms, integrating load-bearing and tensile structures, but provides a remarkable
degree of strength and durability for this type of construction, which is
traditionally weak and fragile, through a composite system of sandbags and
barbed wire. Created by packing local earth into bags, which are then stacked
vertically, the structures are not external systems applied to a territory, but
instead grow out of their context, recycling available resources for the provision
of housing. The sustainability of this approach is further strengthened because
the construction of the sandbag shelters does not require external intervention
but can be built by the occupants themselves with minimal training. The system is
also highly flexible: the scale of structures and arrangement of clusters can be
varied and applied to different ecosystems to produce settlements that are
suitable for different numbers of individuals or groups with differing social needs.
Due to their strength, the shelters can also be made into permanent housing,
transforming the outcome of natural disasters into new opportunities.
 Section 1
Attached Images
 
  

The walls, and the wire structure

 Sand into bag

Keep the work..