NADER KHALILI

(1936-2008)
CALEARTH
CALIFORNIA INSTITUE OF EARTH ARCHITECTURE
THE SUPER ADOBE ARCHITECT
• Nader khalili (1936-2008)
• American architect
• Lunar and Space habitation-
Integral Part of Work
• Inovator of Geltaftan Earth-Fire-
System known as CERAMIC
HOUSES & SUPER ADOBE
CONSTRUCTION
• Visiting scientist of Los Alamos
National Laboratory
• “JOURNAL OF AEROSPACE
ENGINEERING”
• In1986-Established the Geltaftan
Foundatoin and in 1991-The
CalEarth
THE SUPER ADOBE
 Form of Earth-bag Architecture
 Long Sand bags + Barbed wires + On-Site Earth + Few construction tools
 Integration of Traditional Architecture & Contemporary Global Safety
requirement
 Resilient Structure – Passing several Earthquake Codes
THE SYSTEM
 Long or short sandbags are filled with
moistened earth and arranged in layers or
long coils
 Strands of barbed wire are placed
between each layer of sandbag to act as
both mortar and reinforcement
 Stabilizers such as cement, lime, or asphalt
emulsion may be added

BASIC BUILDING MATERIALS

 Synthetic, low UV (ultra-violet) resistant degradable sand bags
 Four-point, two strand, galvanized barbed wire
 Shovels
 Tampers
 Soil & Water
CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS
Length : Width :

 250 yard rolls- small  14 inch width: Dome diameter 12

foot or smaller and all
dome (up to 8 foot landscaping
diameter), small garden
bed, retaining wall  16 inch width: Domes diameter
13-14 foot (Eco-Dome Apses use
 500 yard rolls- medium 16” bag), all landscaping
dome (10-12 foot  18 inch width: Domes diameter
diameter), larger
landscaping or retaining
SUPER 15 foot (Eco-Dome central
dome uses 18” bag), thicker
wall projects ADOBEBAGS retaining walls/benches
 1000 yard rolls-larger  20 inch width: Dome diameter
domes (Eco-Dome uses 16-17 foot. Vault Walls, thicker
approximately 2000 retaining walls/benches. *Only
yards) available in 1,000 yard size
 CalEarth Buildings
Credits

 Thermal mass
 Locally available
materials
 Low-Tech & Natural
Building techniques
 Low Cost
 Organic Shapes
 Healthy Environment

Design
 Major Usage of
arches for more
stability
 Reptile walls
PROJECTS OF CAL EARTH
 HAITI EARTHQUAKE

10 foot main
dome with 3 small
apses, one for a
sleeping nook,
one for a cooking
surface, and one
for storage
NEPAL REHABITATION
From Temporary Shelter to A Family Home
ECO-DOMES
• 400 square
foot structure
• Spacious and
energy
efficient
• Rocket mass
heater and a
passive
cooling
system called
a wind scoop
EARTH ONE VAULT HOUSE
 2,000 sq. ft home
including 3 bedrooms, 2
bathrooms and a 2 car
garage in a 9 vault design
 The walls are built with
Super Adobe and the
slabs are stabilized earth
poured over a form which
is then removed and re-
used to build the next
vault
 standard amenities
(heating, air conditioning,
fire place, full kitchen)
WATER VILLAGE
 The "Water Village" is the first of two
emergency shelter villages at CalEarth

 Each dome in the village has a slightly different

design to show the versatility of Super Adobe,
but also the simplicity. These small domes can
each be built in about one day with 5-7 builders
with only basic on-site training. They can be
stabilized and plastered or just left unstabilized
for temporary shelter in a disaster situation
MARS ONE
 Mars One was the second
sandbag structure built at
CalEarth in the early 1990s
 1984 Nader Khalili presented
at a NASA symposium for lunar
and martian construction
 Mars One was also the first
structure to include "reptiling"
plaster, the small earthen balls
used to cover the exterior of
the building providing an
extra layer of protection and
eliminating smooth surfaces
prone to cracking
THANK YOU
FOR YOUR PATIENCE