Own the Most Beautiful, Firestorm- and Climate-Safe Cottage Money Can Buy ... and Clear the Path for Everyone Who Follows
Santa Barbara South Coast Pioneers Sought for Adobe Safety Cottage Installations
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We have completed decades of design, engineering, earthquake and ASTM E119 fire testing, and authored the first US code for monolithic adobe buildings, recently added to the International Residential Code.
We are now inviting a select group of visionary clients with Santa Barbara sites to pioneer the first sustainable, affordable, firestorm- and climate-safe adobe cottages. The ideal clients are mission-driven: not just wanting a state-of-the-art structure for their own use, but drawn to be the ones whose pioneering clears the path for others.
These first structures are the next step towards our vision of a menu of pre-engineered, pre-approved plans for monolithic adobe tiny homes, offices, and accessory structures that working Californians could afford to build, benefiting not just them, their children and grandchildren, but society through improved climate resiliency, including serving as a firebreak that protects neighbors rather than fuel.
Adobe Safety Cottage Features
- Extremely firestorm-resistant—among, if not the most firestorm-resistant and beautiful habitable structures. Low-density adobe arguably has the best fire resistance properties of any building material. Unlike concrete and steel, it does not dramatically lose strength at high temperatures. Unlike concrete, it does not explosively spall. It resists heat transfer incredibly well. In both two hour and four-hour testing with 1,800°F on the outside, no heat reached the interior side of the wall. It is nontoxic and non-offgassing. These structures use state-of-the-art fire-resistant, non-combustible detailing for roofs, windows, doors, and utility penetrations, as well as smoke-, flame-, and ember-resistant ventilation.
- Excellent passive comfort—temperature, ventilation, indoor air quality, daylighting, soundproofing, and aesthetics.
- Climate-resilient—low carbon footprint, resistant to extreme weather, passively provides clean cool air on smoky days, passively stores more heat/cool for power outages and green energy load-leveling than a Tesla Powerwall II battery.
- Earthquake-resistant—among the strongest earthen buildings ever tested for lateral loads. Debris-flow-resistant, with about 10x the lateral load resistance of a stuccoed wood-frame building, and the option of a boat-shaped, steel-armored ferrocement foundation that can extend above ground to the height of expected debris flow.
- 80% less water and energy use—using innovative, integrated, state-of-the-art, ultra-high-efficiency fixtures.
- No heavy equipment required—preserving the plant growth and infiltration capacity of the soil. The innovative multi-benefit, multi-use habitable basement foundation does not require the over-excavation and compaction that permanently destroys the soil under and around new buildings. It is possible to build an Adobe Safety Cottage in a fully landscaped backyard without the massive, permanent destruction caused by heavy equipment.
- Choice of architectural style—Spanish revival, Gaudí, Shelton, English cottage with slate roof and beveled glass windows, Santa Fe, Mountain Drive, and more.
- Nontoxic real materials—adobe, stone, metal, glass, and wood. Excellent indoor air quality. Extremely low architectural fuel load: as low as 0 lbs, vs. 60,000 lbs (!) of wood and wood-fuel equivalent in an average new house.
- Multi-useful—as residence, office, art studio, and/or fire safe for valuables.
- Educational—the building itself helps instill sensory awareness and systems thinking in residents, with windows that both passively heat and cool the structure, as well as align to and frame solstice and equinox sunrise/moonrise and sets, and a window aligned with the north star.
- Economical—Cost per person per year after pioneering is expected to be competitive with conventional construction, due to 200-year design life; high immunity to firestorms, earthquakes, and termites; ultra-efficient use of every cubic foot of space; and extremely low utilities.
- Secure store of wealth—security of investment much higher than conventional construction, with a building that is extremely resistant to fire, termites, and dry rot.
- Low external costs, high external benefits—low climate impact; able to house many more people in the same environmental footprint; help secure the property tax base against firestorm; create firebreak between wood houses; low landfill impact for both construction and demolition; low off-site production of toxins; long-term affordable; and a secure store of intergenerational wealth more accessible to people of modest means.
- Soulful and space efficient—hand-built, human scale, with craft and care throughout. Intricately detailed 3D use of space.
Our objectives
- Build you a really nice, firestorm- and climate-safe cottage that will provide comfort and joy, and securely store and share wealth between generations.
- Produce beautiful photographs for a menu of pre-designed adobe safety cottages in different sizes and styles, to help people understand how beautiful as well as functional this kind of construction can be.
- Pioneer a permitting pathway that others can easily follow to obtain permits for firestorm- and climate-safe building.
- Build a library of pre-drawn, pre-engineered plans which cities and counties can give away to promote sustainable, affordable, firestorm- and climate-safe building, including resident-built structures that serve as a secure store of wealth accessible to more people, including young and less wealthy people. (Ventura County currently gives away pre-approved plans for ADUs; our vision is for cities and counties throughout California to give away pre-approved plans for adobe tiny houses, making them the easiest and cheapest things to build.)
What we’re looking for in terms of sites and partner-clients
- In the Santa Barbara South Coast
- Site suitable for a permitted Accessory Dwelling Unit—which is almost any site that does not already have a large investment in unpermittable structures. The rules for ADUs eliminate many obstacles: a large lot is not needed, extra parking is not needed, and new water, gas, and electric service are not needed. Garage conversions qualify. Even most multi-family properties can add an ADU. Permitting is expedited and fees are low. We are looking to build sizes from 120 to 400 sq ft initially, with lofts possible thanks to California’s Tiny House code.
- Client with flexibility on timeline and finances—to comfortably absorb pioneering costs. The first installations will run higher than later builds as we test especially fire-resistant roofs, doors, and windows, refine processes and suppliers, and help regulators through learning curves. The right pioneer clients are those for whom this is a welcome investment in a mission they believe in, not a financial hardship.
- Client inspired by the larger ecological and social mission—and willing to shoulder pioneering costs so it will be easier for others with fewer resources to follow. We foresee these being built first by visionaries in the donor class; then by investors who see the wisdom of shifting from insecure housing made of fuel to secure investment made of firebreak; then by the full range of people, including young people building sweat equity to get a foothold in communities like Santa Barbara that are otherwise out of reach. An exciting possibility is a consortium of Santa Barbara nonprofits building multi-unit housing of this type to ensure the non-profit workforce is not priced out of town. This program would also inform firestorm- and climate-safe building around the world, both for adobe and for other building systems.
Economics
If you take everything into account, the most economical solution is the most ecological solution as well.
Once through this pioneering phase, an Adobe Safety Cottage is an extraordinarily economical solution for high-quality housing. Every aspect of the design feeds into this.
The biggest single factor is fewer square feet per person. These are cozy, soulful, highly optimized spaces that feel more inviting than small conventionally built spaces, because of better air quality from nontoxic materials, superior ventilation, better soundproofing, and daylighting.
The second biggest factor is ultra-high-efficiency use of hot water, water, and electricity.
The third biggest factor is long design life. With much lower vulnerability to firestorms and termites, these structures are expected to last well over 100 years. The oldest continuously inhabited structure in the US, Taos Pueblo, is made of adobe and is over 1,000 years old.
Conventional construction appears cheap primarily by externalizing costs: resource extraction and waste disposal; high energy and water use; heavy climate damage; health costs from toxic building materials; and in a firestorm, igniting neighboring structures and depleting water pressure, making other structures harder to defend.
Adobe Safety Cottages have lower external costs and substantial external benefits for the community: they serve as firebreak between wooden structures, reduce impact on neighbors’ solar access, emit less noise, reduce flooding by capturing stormwater, and raise the groundwater level.
Estimated costs per person per year for a tiny adobe ADU vs an average main dwelling. The first few structures would cost substantially more than this...editable calculations for cost graph.
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