SUPERADO

BE
TECHNOLO
Presented by:
GY
KEVIN J PETER
Guided by:

Ms. SUFINA A.
M.

INTRODUCTI
ON
In 1984, NASA's first symposium on lunar
bases and space activities of the 21st
century received the presentations dealing
with the utilization of onsite natural
resources to construct future lunar and
martian habitations
The Sandbag/ Superadobe/ Superblock
technology was presented here

HISTORY OF SUPERADOBE
TECHNOLOGY

Military infantrymen have used sand filled sacks to

create bunkers and barriers for protection prior to
World War I

German architect Frei Otto is said to have

experimented with earth bags
The techniques current pioneer is Nader Khalili
who originally developed the Superadobe system
in 1984 in response to a NASA call for housing
designs for future human settlements on the Moon
and on Mars
Since 1995, the Super Adobe Method has been put
to use in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Belize, Costa Rica,
Chile, Iran, India, Siberia, Mali, and Thailand, as

ABOUT NADER
KHALILI
o Iranian-born California
architect
o Designer and innovator of the
Geltaftan Earth-and-Fire
System known as ceramic
houses as well as the
Superadobe building
technologies
o His impressions have been
collected in his book Racing
Alone
o Founder and director of the
Cal-Earth Institute dedicated to

WHAT IS SUPERADOBE
TECHNOLOGY?

Form of earthbag construction

The technique uses layered long fabric tubes or

bags filled with adobe to form a compression
structure
Long or short sandbags are filled with on-site
earth and arranged in layers or long coils
(compression) with strands of barbed wire placed
between them to act as both mortar and
reinforcement (tension)

Going into detail..

Structural aspects
Materials used
Uses
Safety standards and comforts

PRINCIPLES OF SUPERADOBE
CONSTRUCTION
1. Base planning units on natural boundaries or
flows, such as aquifers, transition zones, or flows
of air, heat, or water, materials, nutrients, and
people
2. Design with nature
3. Consider global or regional effects of the building
process
4. Encourage inter jurisdictional planning
5. Incorporate broad, cooperative, community-based
local decision making

.
6. Maintain longterm monitoring and feedback
on effects of buildings
7. Apply an interdisciplinary approach to
information
8. Integrate (dont just balance) economic,
social, and environmental concerns
9. Link ecosystem planning to democratic
change, social learning, community building,
and environmental education
10. Use, wherever possible, locally sourced
materials with low embedded energy

ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES OF A
SUPERADOBE BUILDING
Minimal use of wood
Minimal use of such as steel that require a
great deal of energy to produce
Thick adobe walls provide passive cooling
and heating
Triple glazed windows absorb heat-emitting
UV rays, cooling the structure
Electricity both for the construction and the
buildings operation will be supplied by
photovoltaics
Sustainable materials will be chosen for
flooring, cabinets, doors, etc.

CONSTRUCTION
PROCESS
Digging a circular pit of desired size
One layer of the sandbag role is then laid
into place, and consequently filled with either
moistened earth or a mixture of 90% earth
and 10% concrete.
The bag is then tamped down with a tamping
tool, to eliminate settling and provide
structural stability.
A line of four-pointed barbed wire is then
hooked down the middle of the top of the
bag.
Upon this layer, successive layers are built

FINISHING OF A SUPERADOBE
BUILDING
- Khalili developed a system that used 85%
earth and 15% cement plaster and which is
then covered by Reptile, a veneer of
grapefruit sized balls of cement and earth.
Reptile is easy to install and because the
balls create easy paths for stress, it doesn't
crack with time
- Some Superadobe buildings have even been
covered by living grass, a kind of Green roof
- The floor of a Superadobe building is usually
finished last so that plumbing and electrical
lines can be run underneath

ADVANTAGES OF SUPERADOBE
Most of the building material is free, local,
and used without harm to the environment.
Homeowners can build a Superadobe house
themselves, filling and placing the bags by
hand.
The earth-filled bags provide insulation and
thermal mass.
Sandbags are resistant to fires, wind, and of
course, floods.
Superadobe structures have passed
California's tests for earthquake safety.

CONCLUSION

Superadobe technology, created in the 1990s by Nader

Khalili is gaining attention for its simplicity and
sustainability
Superadobe transforms modern architecture, which depletes
natural resources, into a method of building which is
affordable, sustainable, functional and beautiful
The Superadobe technique meets all Los Angeles County
building code, the strictest codes in the United States
It has been tested and proved to withstand earthquakes of up
to 8.0 on the Richter Scale
It is comfortable in extremes of temperature and is fire
resistant
Thus superadobe technology is a perfect green building
technique and will get wide spread soon

REFERENCES
1. Rob Wainwright, Building an earthbag dome,
The Owner Building (TOB), pp. 6-11,
February/March 2008.
2. Joseph F Kennedy, Building with earth bags,
Natural Building Colloquium, Networks Productions,
14 February 2007.
3. Brooke Barnes, Mihyun Kang, and Huantian
Cao, Sustainable Characteristics of Earthbag
Housing, Housing and Society Journal , 2006.
4. When Shelter is made from the Earth's Own
Dust, New York Times, 15 April 1999.
5. What is superadobe?,
http://calearth.org/building-designs/what-is
superadobe.html, Accessed on 29-08-2011.
6. Build a small earthbag dome,
http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/weblog/2007/0
8/short-history-of-earthbag-building.htm, Accessed