[Cob] Silo Stove Squat

[davidsheen at davidsheen.com]

[ accompanying images at:  http://www.davidsheen.com/silostove ]

As far as I know, nothing similar to this has ever been done before, and
that's why I'm calling upon my community of pyromancers and eco-experts to
let me know what you think, before I build a large-scale model and leave a
large hole in the ground of burnt earth.  But if you think it just might
work, we may have on our hands a new mutant form of healthy housing.

I've always been inspired by earth architect Nader Khalili's 20-year-old
idea of firing clay domes and vaults from within, to create ceramic
vessels the size of whole houses.  But although they're probably stronger
than unfired mud houses, the firing simply isn't necessary -- regular cob
and adobe buildings are strong enough as it is -- and to my mind, can't
justify the use of that much fossil fuel.

But after visiting the underground earth house of eco-architect Malcolm
Wells in December and meeting the man himself; after returning from a trip
to Ethiopia in which I beheld the enormous rock-hewn churches of Lalibela,
monasteries carved out of stone; and after seeing how high density mud
skyscrapers in Yemen simulate underground cool-temperature conditions...

My interest in building down into the earth has been renewed.  But you
can't build walls of earth underground; they'll just get flooded with
groundwater and melt, collapse into a mudpit.  That's why Malcolm Wells
pours concrete.  But what if we first fire them up, using Nader Khalili's
method?  They'd be impervious to water on all sides, at half the
ecological cost of concrete!

If we take cobmaster Ianto Evans' rocket stove and elbow joint model, blow
it up to the scale of a 150-round foot house, ta-da, you've got a secret
subterranean home that's invisible to building inspectors and nosy
neighbours.  Once the cast clay structure has cooled off and can be lived
in, the elbow joint acts as an air cooling tower, and the chimney at
ground level heats up in the sun and facilitates Venturi Effect
ventilation.

Instead of just digging down with a Bobcat, an earthen cylinder or dome is
built from either cob or adobe within the pit, and a one-foot gap is left
between the structure and the surrounding earth.  Before the pit is fired,
small holes can be poked into the earthen walls with a sharp spear. 
Afterwards, the gap is filled with 2-Litre plastic bottles which trap air
for excellent external insulation; they also allow light to filter through
from up top, poking through the holes in the wall.

Like the adobe homes of the original inhabitants of the Southwestern
United States, the Silo Stove Home can be entered from the top, by
climbing down a ladder.  If strict secrecy is desired in this
anti-democratic day and age, the chimney can be suitably decorated from
the outside to resemble some kinds of artistic obelisk -- no one will
suspect that you've living underground in creature comfort!

I should also point out here that a house need not be limited to one room
-- several rooms can be built and knitted together with Khalili earthen
arches, and fired separately to create a whole series of underground
caverns, if you so desire.  Or, if you can't fathom the thought of living
under the earth, why not start off with a post-Peak Oil-ready water
catchment and containment tank that's much better than cement?

If you are not previously acquainted with the work of architects Evans,
Khalili, and Wells, I highly recommend that you pick up some of their
books to learn more about why each of these ideas are just about as
ecological as you can get.  And by combining the most efficient stove
design with the strongest earthen structure, while retaining the most
amount of topsoil for plant life, could they be even greater than the sum
of their parts?

[ accompanying images at:  http://www.davidsheen.com/silostove ]