This is an earthen oven with attached cob benches in the shape of a raven. It was built at Breitenbush Hot Springs over the course of 2010-11 with a series of small efforts in which the community members could get involved with its construction. The project was organized by Sarah Crampton and the roof structure was built by one of the community members named Patrick.
Welcome to the community of Breitenbush Hotsprings!
I'm here leading the construction of an earthen oven with attached benches.
We decided to shape the oven as a raven, which has a lot of meaning for many of the members of this community.
Welcome to the Village Building Convergence, a true gem about Portland and one of my personal favorite things about the city.
Each year, an organization called City Repair puts on a ten-day festival of community building and place-making, often using natural construction to do so. It's wonderful, 25 sites all across the city welcomed community members to join in playing in the mud while creating beautiful meaningful relationships and simple projects along the way. I was honored to be one of their guest instructors this year and participate in many of the activities throughout the week.
Welcome to the BRING Planet Improvement Center!
I'm building a piece for their sculpture park called the Garden of Earthly Delights.
It's a totally ground-breaking, never been done before that I know of, cob-adobe hybrid spiraling loop-de-loop... yes, all that and some.
The ‘Loop-de-loop’ is a very large curving cob bench created for the BRING Planet Improvement Center, located in Eugene, Oregon. The project uses urbanite for the foundation and cob for the structure of the bench. The ‘loop’ was built using adobe blocks and a five foot clear span form. The roofing was created with salvaged toilet tank covers in twenty different colors that continue up and through the loop and back out the other side. The main part of the bench is intended for group seating for informational tours and student programs at BRING, while the loop creates a great place for employees to have lunch with a friend out of the rain. The bench is covered with earth plaster …
