Living and Building With The Natural World, part 2

-- Here's part 2 of the writing i began posting last week ~

Unfortunately, some people who occupy buildings have no awareness of where the materials of the building comes from, or where the energy to nourish the building comes from, or how to block out the summer sun while letting in the winter sun, or how to cool the building by working with the wind.  

We live in buildings as if we are riding in a powerboat -  unconsciously flipping on switches to bring us light or energy, moving through space with no consideration of our relationship to the natural world.   We can live as if we are sailing:  A building can be a vessel that puts us in more intimate relationship with the world around us and inspires us to engage with natural energies, flows and rhythms.

What other ways can the built environment be a part of the natural world? Most simply, it can put us in relationship with the natural world - and provide place for intimate relationship with our loved ones and all parts of our self.  We can consider each natural element -  water, soil, fire, air/wind, sun, wood, stone - and ask how we can consciously interact with each as 

we design and live in our buildings.

-- The third and final part will further explore ways to build and live with the natural world!



www.HeliconWorks.com

Building and Living as Part of the Natural World, Part 1

I'm going to begin posting articles i've written, each in a series of parts with images.  Here is the latest writing i've been working on, the first part......... comments welcome!

Building and Living as Part of the Natural World, Part 1

A few years ago, my wife, Beth, and I rafted through the Grand Canyon for eighteen days.  We were out of doors twenty four hours a day, in and out of the water, in the canyons formed over billions of years, sleeping under the stars.  When we left, we were bused to the back of a hotel and told to walk through a hallway up to the lobby to meet another bus.  As soon as i entered the hallway, I was completely disoriented, bouncing off walls, head dizzy.  

While in the canyons, my body and mind had drifted back into some ancient rhythm, or way of being in the world.  Every fiber within me was alive, alert, invigorated, breathing, and attuned to the sky and water and canyons. Returning to Cartesian space - abstract and geometric - jarred me out of my new primal existence.

This disconnect is unnecessary.  Architecture can be otherwise -  the spaces we live in can be attuned to the natural world.  As we painfully know, buildings in the US are, for the most part, life-less and soul-deadening. There is no resonance with anything from the world we come from.

More acutely, most buildings are full of toxic materials, often hermetically sealed with no relationship to the natural world.  Buildings are typically designed as discrete objects, with no regard for how the sun tracks across the sky, the wind courses through the windows, the flow of the land, the rhythms of the seasons.  

That's the intro.......i'll offer ways of creating vital space and form next week!



www.HeliconWorks.com

Ecological Building in Nepal!

HW is going to Nepal for the 7th time in 3 years! We continue to work with KRMEF - www.KRMEF.org - bringing ecological building practices.  On this trip we will be building an orphanage, as we did a couple of years ago............. with the children!!

If you would like to join us, we've had volunteers from 28 countries and have an internship program.  Contact Bill@KRMEF.org for info.

A REQUEST FOR VENUES TO GET THE WORD OUT 

I am an ecologically responsive architect, who focuses on the spiritual and psychological aspects of creating our home.  I see our life's journey as a process of finding home, an impulse which, paradoxically, can only be found spiritually. Yet, it is through living in this world that we form our deeper union with our source, and our physical house mirrors our inner home.  I have developed ways to be with clients in their process of giving physical form to their home, and cultivating an inner discipline to consciously engage in this dialogue through our daily living.  I can give PowerPoint presentations and workshops on either aspect of my work.   I would enjoy discussing with you how I may bring this work to your community. 

NATURAL BUILDING IN NEPAL

I'll be at KRMEF again April 2 - 22, building the last two floors of the Ankuran (re:  www.KRMEF.org for more info).  We've developed a natural building method using waste glass bottles and paper, with bamboo frame and thatch roof. If you're traveling in southeast asia then, drop by Kathmandu and join or efforts!  We work hard, have fun, are a part of the village -  we form many lasting relationships!   We'd love to have you join our community!

Exploring and Giving Form to Our Inner Home

                             Notes for The Workshop on May 26th         

Ecology -   the Greek eco means home.  Logos is the mysterious process of coming into being of a idea or impulse or ray of light.  Ecology can thus be considered as the mysterious process of making home.

This workshop delves into the idea that seeking home is our life's journey and explores

 "home" as an internal image, within the context of that journey. Home is our place of deep refuge, wholeness, being known. It is where we feel safe to be fully loved and love openly - our quiet, still center.  Ironically, home exists in spiritual realms, yet here we are, living in a crazed world, amidst our humanity - our fullness, of light and darkness. 

This workshop is experiential -  I open some of the infinite doors into exploring your inner self, your soul,  with the intention of drawing out life giving impulses which you can then embody through your daily living.  Each door is a creative-meditative drawing or sculpting exercise, where I offer a poetic image which you'll internalize, listen for a response, and then explore by playing with clay or pastels on newsprint, letting the exploration awaken essential parts of yourself you have forgotten or never realized.  As you create, more images appear -  each exercise opens a deep well of life giving water.

After the group completes each expression, you are invited to share with the group how the unfolding occurred.  Other particpants offer their insights into what you've offered, which also expands their understanding of our common humanity.  We then discuss how these revealed impulses can be lived into.

Consider the impulse of, say, wanting expansiveness, perhaps expressed when drawing by large, sweeping arcs of color, unfolding like bird's wings.  How that energy is given form is unique to our experiences and inclinations, but they may include: Considering new, bold options regarding significant life decisions; or making a window seat with a distant view, for our gazing;  or traveling to the southwest deserts (or moving there): or sailing (experience such an expansive space as the ocean, with the wind, and see what it has to offer), or letting your hair grow, or learn swing dancing!  

As there are infintite facets to the crystal that is our soul, this workshop can go on for a day, or two or three.  Regardless of duration, participants will have opened to ways to explore home and can continue this work throughout their life's journey.

Workshop fee -  $150.  Includes breakfast & lunch.  9am - 6pm.  At my home.

What makes Helicon Works unique is that i invite people to create their own vision of “home” by first going deep inside themselves spiritually, emotionally, and aesthetically.  I do this work with clients, and I teach a couple of workshops which delves into this possibility.   In one workshop, I lead participants through exploring home as an internal image, considering our life's journey as a process of finding home in the world, a journey that is all about inner work.  The other workshop explores home in this sense as well, with the intention of embodying our fuller self through the making of our physical home.  I believe that our inner home and physical home mirror one another.  I offer these workshops at my home, where i have attempted to illustrate this work.

I recently held the second workshop, and on Saturday, May 26th, i'll hold the other workshop, which i call "Ecology. The Mysterious Process of Making Home."   We'll do creative expression work to reveal life-giving impulses wecarry in our heart, and then engage in dialogue regarding ways to make those images a part of our daily living.