Working with NASA as part of an initiative to design homes fit for space, Iranian architect Nader Khalili conceived the dome home as an affordable, accessible, easy to build, and environmentally sensible housing solution. Now it’s being applied in the West Bank.
One of our close friends apprenticed with Nader Khalili in California. Fleeing Iran, he first presented his Superadobe construction method, which involves stuffing bags full of readily available dirt and then stacking them in a circular form. The bags are held together with barbed wire, and then covered with lime plaster. Any holes are filled in with grout.
The resulting homes are so well-insulated, no air-conditioning is necessary in summer, and in winter, the thick walls retain enough heat to keep the interior space comfortably warm. Much like strawbale homes, pioneered by Bill and Athena Steen in Canelo, Arizona. We visited them in the early 2000s. Read the story of Canelo here.
In 1991, Khalili founded the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (Cal-Earth), which continues to provide workshops and empower people around the world with these low impact structures. Superadobe technology, a kind of low-tech technology, was designed and developed by architect Nader Khalili and Cal-Earth Institute, and engineered by P.J. Vittore.
Related: Nader-Khalili resort in Oman wins big accolades
For SharmsArd, the young Palestinian firm that Ahmad Daoud commissioned to build his home in Jericho, building with Earth was an obvious choice that allows them to feel empowered in the context of the nation’s ongoing struggle against Israel’s increasingly aggressive behavior in the West Bank and Gaza.
One of the firm’s partners, Danna Massad, expresses their collective desire to operate independently of the foreign aid that so many Palestinians have to rely on to make any kind of respectable living in Palestine. I think the Palestinian society is oversaturated with international aid,” she tells NPR’s Emily Harris.
“Of course, we’re not the only example of a local business that refuses any kind of aid, but we can see how excited people get … to see how you can actually do something without being dependent.”
Despite some skepticism from his community, Daoud is chuffed with his new home.
“It’s an environmentally friendly house,” he told NPR. “I can tear it down and nothing will remain. In the summer, I don’t need air conditioning, and in the winter, I don’t need heat.”
Photos of the construction process taken from SharmsArd Facebook Page which has not been updated since 2020. As of October, 2023 their website page has not been working.
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
Nader was a clearly a wonderful person with great vision. His beliefs about helping humanity together with his solution to housing have been enjoyed across the globe. His children now run the business from their California, USA base. They hold how-to education/hands-on classes about living smaller, better and with fewer resources. I’m impressed with and inspired by their work here, as always, and find it simply wonderful. Service to others rather than constant “binding” aid from the West (ugh) is far better at helping people help themselves. A big salute to the ones who listen and do.
We agree and hope that more architects will follow in his footsteps.