bejohnson
11-06-2004, 02:57 PM
Waste-watching architect raises barns, awareness (http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2514622,00.html)
Article Published: Friday, November 05, 2004
By Joey Bunch
Denver Post Staff Writer
Larkspur - Architect Doug Eichelberger sees the world's salvation in its trash.
He started pursuing his personal crusade 12 years ago, one bale of pornography at a time.
Back then, a recycler in Commerce City gave Eichelberger 80 tons of adult magazines, worthless for recycling because of their laminated pages. Eichelberger used the material to frame a sturdy horse barn on his ranch in south Douglas County.
Otherwise, the magazines would have rotted in a landfill for decades, if not centuries.
http://media.mnginteractive.com/media/paper36/1105barn.jpg
Post / Helen H. Richardson
Architect and sculptor Doug Eichelberger designed a barn
and a stable for his Douglas County ranch using recycled
materials. The stable was built with fieldstones packed in
wire baskets. The barn sits on a foundation of compressed
milk jugs, detergent containers, pop bottles and other
items, its stucco walls packed with magazines.
"I figured, if this could help the environment - keep all this stuff out of the landfill - provide people an affordable place to live, ... that's kind of good," he said.
Colorado and the West have been a haven for such novel construction. People with a lot of time on their hands, as well as cash in their pockets, have tried straw, paper and plastic.
Simply put, they build something of value with parts that are seemingly worthless.
"There's a lot of good stuff in the (trash)," said architect Michael Reynolds, the Taos creator of the well-known "Earthship" homes, which he makes from dirt packed in old tires along with aluminum cans and glass bottles.
Eichelberger didn't rely merely on magazines. The barn sits on a foundation of compressed milk jugs, detergent containers, pop bottles and the like.
It doesn't attract rats or bugs, Eichelberger said. The barn also fends off fire, rain and snow without problems. It stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
So, pleased with the barn, Eichelberger built another unusual edifice just down the hill two years ago - a stable framed with rubble.
He collected tons of rocks from the nearby hillsides and dumped them into doghouse- size wire baskets. He stacked the baskets to build a four- stall stable the same size as his barn.
He envisions that concept being the seed for quickly built shelters in countries torn by war or natural disaster.
The reward of his menagerie, he says, is experimentation itself.
"It has to be tried out, it has to be tested, it has to be there in the body," Eichelberger said. "Otherwise it's just theory, and everybody has theories."
Experts say the world needs more of that kind of thinking. And with a little luck, a profit can be turned.
Last summer, actor Dennis Weaver, who starred in the 1970s TV series "McCloud," sold his home outside Telluride - an Earthship design by Reynolds - for $4.25 million.
"It's purely a logical look at the future to choose something you want to get rid of, something you have no chance of running out of," Reynolds said of trash, "as opposed to something you really desperately need, like trees."
It's also a seller's market for new approaches, as the costs of first-use supplies and energy soar, said eco-friendly design expert Dan Heinfeld.
"There is an awareness about energy, the fact that oil is $56 a barrel, and environmental design that I haven't seen in my 30 years in the business," said Heinfeld, partner and head of design at LPA, one of the largest architecture firms in Southern California.
And there are examples where creativity, persistence and technology paid off.
For example, Werner Gregori proposed "foam forms" in Canada in 1966. The self-supporting concrete walls have an interior gap insulated by foam. But builders in North America were skeptical; they thought the material was too cumbersome.
Today, the forms - known as PolySteel - account for at least one out of every 100 houses built in the United States each year, said Patrick Murphy, president of American PolySteel.
The key is getting acceptance in building codes, Murphy said. "You can go out and build with garbage, but you'd better be able to convince the local code official that you meet codes that were obviously not designed for garbage."
Eichelberger hopes his garbage and rock designs advance architectural thought, but he doesn't expect to see a nickel from them, unless someone hires him to replicate the work.
He couldn't patent the design because using a building- blocks concept isn't new, and paper isn't a unique building material, even if it does have pictures of naked people on it.
Meanwhile, Eichelberger looks ahead to his next venture with waste.
On a sunny, cool autumn day recently, he stared at the vista of his ranch, not sure what he would build next. He's still looking for a need and just the right inspiration.
After all, he said, "I already have a chicken coop."
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-814-2136 or jbunch@denverpost.com .
Article Published: Friday, November 05, 2004
By Joey Bunch
Denver Post Staff Writer
Larkspur - Architect Doug Eichelberger sees the world's salvation in its trash.
He started pursuing his personal crusade 12 years ago, one bale of pornography at a time.
Back then, a recycler in Commerce City gave Eichelberger 80 tons of adult magazines, worthless for recycling because of their laminated pages. Eichelberger used the material to frame a sturdy horse barn on his ranch in south Douglas County.
Otherwise, the magazines would have rotted in a landfill for decades, if not centuries.
http://media.mnginteractive.com/media/paper36/1105barn.jpg
Post / Helen H. Richardson
Architect and sculptor Doug Eichelberger designed a barn
and a stable for his Douglas County ranch using recycled
materials. The stable was built with fieldstones packed in
wire baskets. The barn sits on a foundation of compressed
milk jugs, detergent containers, pop bottles and other
items, its stucco walls packed with magazines.
"I figured, if this could help the environment - keep all this stuff out of the landfill - provide people an affordable place to live, ... that's kind of good," he said.
Colorado and the West have been a haven for such novel construction. People with a lot of time on their hands, as well as cash in their pockets, have tried straw, paper and plastic.
Simply put, they build something of value with parts that are seemingly worthless.
"There's a lot of good stuff in the (trash)," said architect Michael Reynolds, the Taos creator of the well-known "Earthship" homes, which he makes from dirt packed in old tires along with aluminum cans and glass bottles.
Eichelberger didn't rely merely on magazines. The barn sits on a foundation of compressed milk jugs, detergent containers, pop bottles and the like.
It doesn't attract rats or bugs, Eichelberger said. The barn also fends off fire, rain and snow without problems. It stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
So, pleased with the barn, Eichelberger built another unusual edifice just down the hill two years ago - a stable framed with rubble.
He collected tons of rocks from the nearby hillsides and dumped them into doghouse- size wire baskets. He stacked the baskets to build a four- stall stable the same size as his barn.
He envisions that concept being the seed for quickly built shelters in countries torn by war or natural disaster.
The reward of his menagerie, he says, is experimentation itself.
"It has to be tried out, it has to be tested, it has to be there in the body," Eichelberger said. "Otherwise it's just theory, and everybody has theories."
Experts say the world needs more of that kind of thinking. And with a little luck, a profit can be turned.
Last summer, actor Dennis Weaver, who starred in the 1970s TV series "McCloud," sold his home outside Telluride - an Earthship design by Reynolds - for $4.25 million.
"It's purely a logical look at the future to choose something you want to get rid of, something you have no chance of running out of," Reynolds said of trash, "as opposed to something you really desperately need, like trees."
It's also a seller's market for new approaches, as the costs of first-use supplies and energy soar, said eco-friendly design expert Dan Heinfeld.
"There is an awareness about energy, the fact that oil is $56 a barrel, and environmental design that I haven't seen in my 30 years in the business," said Heinfeld, partner and head of design at LPA, one of the largest architecture firms in Southern California.
And there are examples where creativity, persistence and technology paid off.
For example, Werner Gregori proposed "foam forms" in Canada in 1966. The self-supporting concrete walls have an interior gap insulated by foam. But builders in North America were skeptical; they thought the material was too cumbersome.
Today, the forms - known as PolySteel - account for at least one out of every 100 houses built in the United States each year, said Patrick Murphy, president of American PolySteel.
The key is getting acceptance in building codes, Murphy said. "You can go out and build with garbage, but you'd better be able to convince the local code official that you meet codes that were obviously not designed for garbage."
Eichelberger hopes his garbage and rock designs advance architectural thought, but he doesn't expect to see a nickel from them, unless someone hires him to replicate the work.
He couldn't patent the design because using a building- blocks concept isn't new, and paper isn't a unique building material, even if it does have pictures of naked people on it.
Meanwhile, Eichelberger looks ahead to his next venture with waste.
On a sunny, cool autumn day recently, he stared at the vista of his ranch, not sure what he would build next. He's still looking for a need and just the right inspiration.
After all, he said, "I already have a chicken coop."
Staff writer Joey Bunch can be reached at 303-814-2136 or jbunch@denverpost.com .