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Affordable Housing for Rural and Distressed Urban Communities
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Welcome to 3RBuilders.Net
A Small Is Good Business Web by Sohodojo
What's New
• For Your Information - This site captures the exciting time we (Sohodojo Jim and Timlynn) had a few years back while still living in North Carolina. Timlynn was taking care of her Mom who was struggling with, and eventually lost, her bout with cancer. Whenever Timlynn came back from those stressful times in New Jersey, we tried to get out to Earthaven Ecovillage in the mountains just east of Asheville. It was an inspiring and restful respite from the difficult times we were facing. Since then, we've headed off to northcentral Montana for a few years (to do the North American Rural Futures Institute) and then to rural Iowa. We haven't been back to North Carolina nor to Earthaven since leaving the Tarheel state. But the spirit and memories live on. Here you'll find the wonderful story of the Armstrong-Allison 'clan' who built an amazing home in the forest using recycled materials, mostly used ocean freight shipping pallets. Enjoy now, as we did then.
• Community Sustainability - Read The Human Side of Sustainable Community, Diana Christian's editorial reflection on the Armstrong-Allison Work Party reprinted here from the Summer issue of Communities magazine, the Journal of Cooperative Living.
• House-raising Celebration - Over 50 fabulous and energetic folks descended on the Armstrong-Allison building site at Earthaven this past Saturday, June 29th for the Workday and Top-it-off Party.
Here's a photo gallery of the day's event that says more than words can. Congratulations to the Armstrong-Allison clan for hosting a fabulous event and showing us all the true power of community.
| Permaculture Ecovillage | |
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| Learn more about the Permaculture ecovillage of Earthaven in western North Carolina USA, by visiting the Earthaven community web site. |
• Internships - Didn't make the house-raising workday party? Want to really sink your teeth into learning about this new and developing contruction technique for building affordable housing, visit the Earthaven web site and look into opportunities for internships and training programs running nearly year-round.
• Vision & Strategy - You can learn more about our vision for a neo-tribal, collaborative business venture to construct affordable green housing in rural and distressed urban communities. Follow this link to read Two Small Is Good Business Webs Compared, now on-line at Sohodojo.
Welcome to 3RBuilders.Net
Welcome to 3RBuilders.Net, a Small Is Good Business Web dedicated to the construction of innovative affordable housing in rural and distressed urban communities. This web site is a first step in our evolution.
We have minimal content on-line at the moment. Please enjoy what is here now and bookmark us for a future visit. It won't be the building business as usual at 3RBuilders.Net!
Innovation Spotlight: Shipping Pallet Reuse
Sohodojo was inspired to create a Small Is Good Business Web to support the construction of affordable housing using innovative Green building techniques by the innovation of a creative builder/engineer, Lynn Armstrong, of the Earthaven Ecovillage. When faced with the construction of a large extended family house at this Permaculture-based ecovillage, Lynn turned to what he knows best - making the most with what is at hand.
Lynn Amstrong found a source of gassed-off, heavy-duty industrial shipping pallets at the Mountain Home juice processing plant of Clement Pappas. While others saw industrial waste, Lynn saw a sturdy, flexible housing panel system!
Lynn's pallet-building system showcases two of our three 'R's by reusing the shipping pallets and reducing the amount of new material needed to construct a house compared to conventional designs.
Get the full story on the Armstrong-Allison house in Lay Your Pallet Down, Don't Burn It! Earthaven Ecovillage and Clement Pappas Cooperate on Juicy Green Building Solution, a LifeSIG feature story at Sohodojo.
NSF PATH Grant Innovation Opportunities
There are any number of relevant grant-sponsored PATH programs that would be appropriate for applied research collaborations.
Sohodojo encourages academic institutions and faculty member(s) to consider submitting applications to the National Science Foundation Partnerships for Advancing Technologies in Housing (PATH) program. A recent program solicitation
NSF 05-547 focused on groundbreaking proposals in five interdisciplinary areas:
- Construction Management and Production
- Structural Design and Materials
- Building Enclosures, Energy, and Indoor Air Quality
- Community and Economic Impacts of Housing Technology
- Systems Interactions and Whole House Approaches
(PATH) is a cooperative initiative of the federal government and the building industry to streamline the development, dissemination and use of innovative housing technologies that will improve the affordability and value of America’s homes. PATH works to speed the acceptance of innovative products and processes by understanding and eliminating the issues and institutional problems related to technology development in the housing industry, and by developing new technologies themselves.
Please check into the latest and archived NSF-sponsored PATH Program Solicications and the PATH program website to learn more about their current projects.
Sponsor Profile: Sohodojo
Sohodojo is an independent, applied research and development laboratory supporting entrepreneurial free agents and dejobbed small businesses — the building blocks of Small is Good Business Webs. Our domain of social action is helping solo entrepreneurs and working families in rural and distressed urban communities seeking sustainable participation in the New/Network Economy.
We serve our community through the development of business models and associated Open Source software technologies consistent with Small is Good organizing principles. Our most elementary constituency is the nanocorp, the entrepreneurial free agent.
Sohodojo is chartered as a North Carolina non-profit corporation with IRS 501(C)(3) U.S. tax-exempt status as an educational and public R&D organization. This corporate form allows Sohodojo to serve our community/constituency as a nexus of research and development exploring the other side of Capitalism as a means of extending the flight of Spaceship Earth.
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