Anthony Dente, Michael G. Smith, Massey Burke

Essential Cob Construction (eBook, ePUB)

A Guide to Design, Engineering, and Building

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

The Complete Guide to Safe, Durable, and Beautiful Cob Buildings Part of the Sustainable Building Essentials series, Essential Cob Construction delivers the most up-to-date design, engineering, and building guidance for one of the world's most enduring and expressive natural materials: cob. Learn how to build structurally sound, comfortable, low-carbon homes using clay, sand, and strawwith full support for permitting and modern building science.



What You'll Learn

• Strong, Code-informed Cob Walls: Modern engineering and extensive testing ensure resilient structures with reliable fire and seismic performance.
• Healthy, Low-carbon Construction: Cob uses natural, minimally processed materials for a dramatically reduced environmental footprint.
• Thermal Comfort and Moisture Management: Properly designed cob walls regulate humidity, buffer temperature swings, and support healthy indoor air.
• Beautiful Sculptural Design Possibilities: Create curved forms, niches, and expressive details unique to hand-shaped, site-made architecture.
• Hands-on Building Mastery: Mix design, testing, manual/mechanical mixing, wall building, foundations, connections, finishes, and more.
• Permits, Codes and Budgeting: Navigate the new Cob Construction Appendix, plan projects efficiently, and ensure smooth approval processes.

Written by leading experts Anthony Dente, PE, Michael G. Smith, and Massey Burke, this book combines rigorous engineering, building science, and decades of hands-on natural building experience. Whether you're a designer, engineer, contractor, or owner-builder, this guide provides the essential knowledge needed to build safe, durable, and climate-positive cob structures.



Explore the full Sustainable Building Essentials series for practical, illustrated guidance on natural materials, high-performance envelopes, and sustainable building systems.

---

Dieser Download kann aus rechtlichen Gründen nur mit Rechnungsadresse in A, D ausgeliefert werden.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: New Society Publishers
• Seitenzahl: 256
• Erscheinungstermin: 16. Januar 2024
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781771423588
• Artikelnr.: 67801723

Autorenporträt

Anthony Dente, PE, LEED AP, is a licensed engineer and principal at Verdant Structural Engineers, a firm that has designed over 200 structures using natural-building wall systems such as straw bale, adobe, rammed earth, earthbag, and cob. As vice president of the Cob Research Institute, he was the lead engineer for the Cob Construction Appendix of the 2021 International Residential Code, as well as the Hemp-Lime (Hempcrete) Appendix, both the first of their kind in the US. Dente has advised, designed, and collaborated on numerous university research programs testing the structural behavior of natural materials, and writes and lectures extensively about appropriate use of environmentally sensitive building materials. He is the CEO for Verdant Structural Products, and project lead for their prefabricated, carbon-storing, straw wall panels. Dente was recently awarded the Constellation Prize for Sustainable Engineering Practice. He lives in the San Francisco Bay area of California.

Michael G. Smith is a natural builder, trainer, designer, and consultant who has been working with natural building systems for over 30 years. He holds a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from MIT. In 1993 he co-founded the iconic Cob Cottage Company with Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley, reviving the ancient tradition of cob building. His hands-on workshops focus on energy efficiency, empowerment of people through simple, accessible techniques, and the regenerative use of locally available materials. Smith has led or been involved in over 100 natural building projects in North America and internationally and he is a board member of the Cob Research Institute, where he helped write the first model building code for cob. He is co-author of The Hand-Sculpted House and The Art of Natural Building and author of The Cobber's Companion. He lives on an organic farm near Sacramento, California.

Massey Burke is a natural materials design/build consultant and co-director of the California Straw Building Association. She has worked with cob since 2005 and has taught natural building methods with non-profits and educational organizations, including the University of San Francisco and UC Berkeley. She was project manager for the first permitted cob building in the Bay Area, and supported the writing of the recent cob building code as a board member of the Cob Research Institute. Burke's work in life-cycle assessment focuses on low-carbon building, with a specific interest in supply chains and bringing natural building materials into the urban fabric. She partners with organizations including Arup, StopWaste, and the Carbon Leadership Forum to generate technical information and help remove barriers to scaling up natural, climate-positive building methods. Burke was a contributing author to The New Carbon Architecture. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area of California.

Inhaltsangabe

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Building Science
Chapter 3: Materials and Tools
Chapter 4: Mixes and Mixing
Chapter 5: Building Cob Walls
Chapter 6: Architectural Design
Chapter 7: Structural Design
Chapter 8: Foundations, Floors, and Roofs
Chapter 9: Finishes
Chapter 10: Building Codes and Permits
Chapter 11: Planning, Budgeting, and Getting Help
Glossary: Terminology
Appendix 1: Full IRC Appendix AU
Appendix 2: Life Cycle Analysis
Appendix 3: Bibliography and Resources