I arrived in Huaraz, Peru, on the 30th of June 2014 to join Whitey Flagg (a friend from Cal-Earth) at KMSS. He and his past apprentices had already built 80% of the dome and the greenhouse framing. The primary purpose of this dome is to experiment with heating the structure primarily by sun energy. The thermal mass of super-adobe domes is an essential quality in most climates. However, it might pose a challenge in cold temperatures for people trying to heat solely with electricity, gas, or wood. We hope that an attached greenhouse can help keep the structure warm while reducing the operating carbon footprint. We fully cap the dome during my first month here and finished about 70 percent of the plaster. We also successfully made a natural paint out of flour paste, clay, and water, the recipe of which can be found at (shelterspace.org). We expect to have the dome fully livable within less than a month. We project the greenhouse to provide the dome with enough warmth, thus minimizing firewood use during the wet season.
