#7 Building a Superadobe Kitchen - off-grid solar powered project

Superadobe is a low cost and available method of constructing anything from steps to a house. This video is about how we made a curved twin-room building with roman arches and a single pitched roof that will eventually be used as a kitchen and food storage.
It took 33 volunteers 12 weeks for construction from start to finish. We used just over 600m of bag with 25 tonnes of soil dug on site.
Gratitude and appreciation to everyone who laid hands on the earth put into making this building. Chris Garvey, Nella, Adrien, Bryn, Maria, Daniel, Toki, Diogo, Alice, Sophia, Aurelia, Rosa, Matteo, Ileana, Rady, Mickey, Sue, Nili, Paul, Luna, Eline, Ste, Lucille, Alizée, Arthur, Lucy, Orane, Marie, Benji, Sarah, Sam, Shane, Pamela and Camila. Together, you made it.
Next year, in spring 2024, I will be building our first superadobe dome. I need around 10 people, enthusiastic to learn about building with superadobe meanwhile experiencing life off-grid, immersed in nature. If you would like to know more please email me at [e-mail].

[@LiLBitsDK]

so great to see you back and massive progress on the kitchen, looks great :D

[@chipwellington1179]

Oh that's Portugal I was going to try and volunteer I just arrived near Taos new mexico

[@michaelotto9886]

My quick ideas: wood set into walls to give you a place to anchor cabinets onto the wall. Suppose you could come down from the metal above. The green dream project on youtube and my little homestead could give you ideas for door, perhaps. Beautiful work. Thank you for posting.

[@taovalleyportugal]

Thank you for the pointers and I was thinking exactly the same for using the beams for suspended shelving.

[@HeidiPriest]

Tiny shine homestead

[@craigsymington5401]

@@HeidiPriest Tiny Shiny Home...

[@virgie1050]

Omg they are building like gothic buildings like back in an old stone house out of sand bags that is a good ideal. I love it

[@arjanvogel6444]

Thanks for your vid 😇💟💟💟 Love and bless us all in divine light, beautiful kitchen you made with your helpers good work 👍😁💪👌👏👏👏.

[@taovalleyportugal]

Thank you too 👌

[@assuncaomeireles198]

Que ideia genial nunca tinha visto nada assim muitos parabens a cozinha vai ficar linda. Muito obrigado Bem haja e aos seus amigos que o ajudara muito simpáticos. ❤❤ God bless you 🙏💯% nice

[@taovalleyportugal]

Muito obrigado 🙏💚

[@olhafilimonova4396]

Bravissimi

[@jerryloos]

Hi Adam, looks great! Good job. Where in Portugal did you buy the super adobe roll? 🙏🏻

[@taovalleyportugal]

Thanks @jerryloos! I bought from Ibersaco in Penamacor, Castelo Branco. 0.08€/m for a 45cm bag.

[@alexandrehenriques833]

Congrats for your work..please allow me to tell you ,for the long bags you should use the two buckets system i think its easiar..job well done anyway

[@taovalleyportugal]

Ohh I'm not familiar with the two bucket system. Unless you mean bags filled from both ends? If so, yes totally agree 👍

[@craigsymington5401]

@@taovalleyportugal Start in the middle, work outwards to the two ends 😁

[@taovalleyportugal]

@@craigsymington5401 ah gotcha, we did that when I had more people to help

[@colstace2560]

Where to start ? 1. cement stabilized mud bricks would have been soooo much easier without having to have so many people involved and no extra cost to buy the bags. 2. Square ends would have given you more floor area without much more materials, would have also made the roof easier to construct. 3. Mud bricks are also easier to stucco, those bags look too slick to render effectively. Just rammed earth without the bags seems just as good, if not better to me, its hard to rely on so many other people to help.

[@taovalleyportugal]

It seems that what you're saying is coming from the point of view of costing and efficiency. My purpose in building this structure goes way beyond that. When I was going through many design considerations, I knew other methods would be advantageous in particular aspects but superadobe is my field of experience. Circular buildings have acoustic and aesthetic qualities that square buildings can never provide. I wanted those qualities. Sure there's a compromise but sometimes I ask myself is the juice worth the squeeze? I also wanted the functional element of a 90⁰ corner which is provided by the partition wall. On balance, I was happy to compromise on floor space because there's loads of it. The material cost for the walls was just over €300. Could there be better cost to value than that? Never looked at the cost of wooden panels for a rammed earth build though. As for plastering on the polypropylene bag, try it. You may well be surprised how well a base coat of cob plaster sticks to the surface. In fact it's the mesh of straw bound by clay that creates a skin that holds itself over the superadobe structure. I really enjoyed having all those people helping. It wasn't easy managing everyone but my purpose was to share my land and pass on the skill of this technique. I am proud to have done that and of what we created. We loved it and I made some amazing friends. Was it worth it? Absolutely. One last thing. The difference between a technician and good consultant is that one leads with instructions. The other listens carefully to the advice being requested, then leads with questions ;)

[@colstace2560]

@taovalley8885 I agree, there are many considerations when designing a structure, I myself have used a few different methods, fired brick, timber frame and icf, no method is perfect. 👍🙂

[@chipwellington1179]

That's Taos New Mexico?

[@gordonharper9126]

Put the bag on a bucket with the bottom of the bucket cut out. Measure the link to the bag you need. Put it on the outside of the bucket and then start.

[@user-ui8my9zs7o]

Id love to know how you did the electric and plumbing

[@chipwellington1179]

Do you have to use barred wire?

[@Claudia80TK]

Metal roof in that heat? That adobe wall could have been used as a roof too by forming an egg shape.....

[@craigsymington5401]

The metal is well insulated and is used for water harvesting.

[@SiApPeter]

I didnt think that barbed wire was needed with the super adobe ?

[@taovalleyportugal]

If using polypropylene plastic for the bags, use of a tensile element is essential to avoid slippage of the bags by creating friction between the layers of bag. This is especially true if there is a curvature to the structure because the torsion of the twist wants to uncoil the bag, effectively forcing it outwards. Angular material like gravel can be used to prevent this but it's less reliable and harder to lay the bags compared to barbed wire.

[@craigsymington5401]

It is, not for hyperadobe (red bags).

[@TudorFencing]

Its very cool but just too labor intensive to be practical for most people.

[@StArikAriel]

I didnt notice any leveling...

[@StArikAriel]

oh.. only close to the end

[@triedzidono]

we have fallen a long way as builders of beautiful things. architecture is for everyone. Sorry to come on negative. BUT. That's some ugly plastic & the moment a those polybonds start to break down in UV rich Portuguese sunlight. it will be like a kitten with a ball of wool when she slumps over and topples. I would dig a few posts around it , weave slats of wood through then render the whole thing in lime / cob Rammed wetted earth worked with straw inside removable forms would be a better way to go about this sort of budget structure. Walls would be a little thicker, but you have no space concerns. Less/no tubework - can also fill those by turning inside out, bunching around a bucket with bottom cut out. then you dont need to feed all through. nevermind it's obviously done. Not a fan of the tubebags though. unless filled by a machine & used as temporary flood defense as intended. with the curved roof, keep building up and slope inwards. then tile or shingle the flat ends. ( just a crazy Idea, but you are creative, so consider the form a moment) Other than not liking the product much I enjoyed watching the process. get friendly with lime. Its not all that dangerous if you research its alkaline properties ( avoid the dust ) it turns mud to bricks, sand to plaster and neat is a great paint.