It's THAT time of year again: the monsoons have been dr...

It's THAT time of year again: the monsoons have been drenching the fertile soil with a nightly  dose of liquid gold and the mushrooms are springing forth like treasures to be hunted in the mist. The weather is warm, but not too hot, and the nights are getting cool again. Its the Goldylox Effect in action; this time of year Taos is like a little slice of heaven.

This time last term I was burning the midnight oil. I remember one particular night I was planning the curriculum for another semester of Green Building at UNM Taos, and drafting and editing text for Rachel's soon-to-be published Hacking The Earthship. I was straining to imagine how best to guide a new group of students through an analysis of buildings, systems and materials, as well as their impacts, interactions and footprints.

It was after midnight (even my cat had ceased to weave between my legs) and everything was still, except my fingers at the keyboard. All were asleep, but a perfect storm was brewing. I was charting a course through familiar waters, leading a group of students in an exploration of Natural and High Performance Materials but with a twist: we were hoping to select materials for our class project, a TINY High-Performance Trailer-House.

What I needed was an outline, some bones to stick the meat to. The structure was right in front of me, blurry through my sleep deprived eyes. The scaffolding I needed to frame our selection was outlined in Rachel's text: in her chapter on the Enclosure System, she introduces several different wall systems using a common format, just what I needed. With her blessing my students used this framework to evaluate materials, energy and waste treatment systems for our Tiny House.

We created a form, much like the one used in chapter seven, to evaluate wall materials. Last term my students and I took that framework and ran with it. Based on the information we reviewed and the design criteria we set, we decided to use an enclosed cargo trailer as our platform. It already has a weather-proof shell, and just needs insulation.

Over the course of the term we experimented with insulation materials. Inspired by a start up called Ecovative  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecovative_Design), we attempted to grow insulation out of cardboard and mushroom mycelium. We have a long way to go but I'm ready to try it again this year. Last term we developed a great design and collected a lot of necessary materials. This term, we will focus on systems. We will  finalize the floor plan, then the plumbing and mechanical/electrical plans... then, if we have the right group and and we stay focused, we will build the systems hands-on with help from local experts.

Comparing this year to last, I can say one thing for sure: this year I have it easy because Hacking the Earthship is here and we'll be using it as our class text. Register for CRN 54214 CNST 293 804 Topics: Green Building at UNM -Taos.

Thank you Rachel Preston Prinz and Archinia! And thank you to Mark Goldman and Luis Moya of the Taos Sustainability Institute www.sustaintaos.com/ ; Daniel Garvey and Prescott College www.prescott.edu/ ; Antony Brown and the Ecosa Institute http://ecosa.org/about/ ; Pliny Fisk III and the Center For Maximum Potential Building Systems www.cmpbs.org/ ; the U of O Holistic Options For Planet Earth Sustainability Conference www.hopes.uoregon.edu/ ; Bryan Bell and Design Corps https://designcorps.org/ ; John Quale of the UNM School of Architecture and Planning www.saap.unm.edu/ ; and all of you readers.

This is going to be fun! Want to learn more and stay involved?
Contact TeachingTinyTaos@gmail.com 
  Asha Stout             Taos, New MexicoAsha Stout serves on the faculty at the University of New Mexico-Taos where he teaches hands-on building and design courses in the Green Technology Program. Asha has experience in conventional to radical off-grid building, sustainable forestry, wildland firefighting, and disaster response. These perspectives inform his view of safe housing as an unalienable right and ecological restoration as a grave necessity. Asha is passionate about the pursuit of “Lomakatsi” - life in balance. Asha offered insights into how we could address sustainability in entirely new ways. Buy the book now
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