Eco Building Workshop with Enviroschools
Te Kura o Papatūānuku Wairarapa ran a workshop at South End school in Carterton using the newly launched Enviroschools Ecological Building Theme Area resource. Akōnga explored some ideas around ecological building through a scavenger hunt. They were given design challenges to contribute to buildings that are happening as part of developing the Earth School environment. After lunch it was then all hands in, to make clay straw cobb and to experience some earth building.
Design Challenge 1 - Add an area onto the shipping container science lab to make space for more people to be engaging in learning. Some students created a design of half walls in an area outside using cobb mix with bottles in it to create a surface for people to work on.
Design Challenge 2 - Plan and layout a Tiny Home. A great discussion was held around needs and wants. Needs had to come first in a Tiny Home. The tamariki then mapped out a life-size tiny home on the concrete to see how things would actually fit and feel in real life. Rohan who facilitated this session has built and lives in a tiny home.
Design Challenge 3 - Think about the Earth Schools outdoor kitchen. The basic design had already been done. The akōnga were considering how the kitchen could fit in with the environment. How they could shelter it from prevailing wind was what was being designed here. Toby, a volunteer at the Earth School, was on hand to provide advice, ask questions and give support around the scale drawing. Toby is a structural engineer and is helping to draw up the final plans for the buildings.
In the afternoon the ākonga got together to make cobb clay to build structures with. Making clay straw cobb needs a 50/50 mix of clay and sand. This was put on a flat tarp. Water and barley straw was then added and mixed by enthusiastic stompers and dancers. We knew the mixture was ready when we rolled the tarp up from one end and the mixture made a sausage-like shape. Buildings were then constructed out of the cobb with willow twigs for structural strength or for decoration.
