Nubian vault Papercrete house and sculpture in Alpine.
Casa Cabra Marfa, Domed tower
finally got the thing to work, but
in our first attempt, the blade in
the mixer was incorrect with the
baffles pointing upward, and the
mix shot up in the air. Then the
welds on the rear differential
platform came apart and the
whole thing collapsed. After a few
expletives and almost giving up,
we
made
some
necessary
modifications and test runs and
the thing began working like a
champ. After adding water and
cement and pulling it with a
truck, it churned up a lot of
papercrete slurry. The mixer was
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improved on later with a sturdy
steel tank and supports were
added at the bottom so it could be
tilted. This made shoveling out
the mix easier. We made wooden
forms, poured in the mix, and
waited for the blocks to dry.
Working with Hal Flanders, we
did tests on the blocks to make
sure
they
were
strong,
lightweight and fireproof.
My first attempt at building
something was a small wall in
front of our house. The blocks on
the wall tended to shrink by
adding cement alone, but by
adding about 30% sand, it not
only reduced the shrinkage but
gave them thermal mass and
helped with the fireproofing. The
next project to try was a small
pump house for a hot tub on our
property in Sunny Glen canyon
near Alpine. With this small 7’x 7’
storage shed it seemed I was
getting the hang of it, and with
some helpers I started building a
barrel vault guest house in front
of the pump house. All this was
done on a mountainside, making
it a bit of a challenge. It was a
learning experience, but the
barrel
vault
took
shape,
simulating a method similar to
mud brick building in the Middle
East 4,000 years ago. The
principles of making domes and
vaults had been revived by the
master Egyptian builder Nader
Khalil,i who wrote a book called
Earth Architecture, and that was
our guide for laying up the blocks
to create a vault-shaped roof. In
the meantime, Simone Swan, who
was building a beautiful adobe
home near Presidio and who was
a strong advocate of Khalili’s
designs, was using those same
formulas in her barrel vaults and
domes. After consulting with her
and observing the skill of the
adoberos at work, it became clear
that the same method of laying
up the adobe bricks could also
work with papercrete blocks.
Given that PC blocks are about
three times lighter than adobes,
therefore reducing the heavy
labor involved, it was a no-
brainer to conclude this could
work on our barrel vault, too.
Somehow the word got out
about what we were up to. The
Alpine Avalanche ran a story on
it. Not long after, Channel 8 in
Dallas caught wind of it and put
it on their evening news. Then
Texas Country Reporter came out
and filmed an episode called
Recyclers’ Paradise. Interest in
papercrete all around the Big
Bend was growing, and others
were trying their hand at it.
Clyde Curry and Kate Thayer of
Marathon came to see the barrel
vault under construction and soon
began the amazing Eve’s Garden,
which
today
is
evolving
expeditiously thanks to Alaine
Berg and Noble Baker. Clyde,
who had just finished a straw
bale house, could see the potential
of PC right away. Guil Jones, Wes
Spears, Danielle Gallo, Paty
Hernandez, to name a few, were
building creative things and
putting Marathon on the map as
a papercrete mecca. Rich Gill over
in Marfa was also building a PC
house, and down in Terlingua
folks trying their hand at it.
Meanwhile, over in Alpine, we
were busy building as well: a wall
across the street from The
Holland Hotel, a PC garage, a
small cottage we called the
satellite house because it had a
large satellite dish for a roof, an
apartment in Marfa next to the
Paisano Hotel which had a dome
perched on top, an adobe
restoration project in Marathon,
and working with Guil Jones at
his compound. Our paper supply
mostly came from the local Alpine
recycling yard, but also from
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