Ecological living  

Natural building

The houses and other structures will be designed to use ecologically friendly materials and renewable energy sources. Proper siting of buildings will reduce the impact of construction on local plants and animals. For social harmony, balance between public and private space is crucial.

Local and Traditional Techniques

Mud brick or sun dried brick, stands for blocks, or bricks, in plain earth, sun dried after they have been given shape, mostly by hand, by means of suitable moulds in which a plastic mixture of clay, sand and straw is compressed into, and then traditionally installed.

Quincha

Quincha is a traditional construction system that uses, fundamentally, wood and cane  forming an earthquake-proof framework that is covered in mud.

DESEA is constructing “biosand” water filters promoted by the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology. The system involves filtering of water within a one-metre tall, free-standing concrete container of sand, a biologically-active layer at the sand surface, and lower, drainage layers of gravel. A household filter can provide up to 20-40 litres/hour.

Biosand filters are simple to operate, require minimal maintenance, and never need replacement.  As a local organization DESEA is available to provide households with on-going instruction in filter use and water storage practices as well as to monitor the installations to assure that water quality and operating techniques remain satisfactory. 

Based on in-house and independent studies, CAWST reports that biosand filters are able to remove 95-99% of bacteria; 80-90% of viruses; and 99.99% of parasites (including Giardia, Cryptosporidium, other protozoa, and helminths).

They are looking for donations of $90- £45 which provides permanent water treatment for an Andean family.  This company helps to educate the people and keep them healthy; it has spread to remote Villages all around Peru.  Hopefully the project will be joining us in the Jungle.  We have one of these filters and they are magic!

www.deseaperu.org

 

A composting toilet is any system that converts human waste into an organic compost and usable soil, through the natural breakdown of organic matter into its essential minerals

The art center intends to use one of two types of composting toilets;

Waterless Composting is a system made up of a wood cabinet with a comfortable toilet seat and tight fitting lid, below which is a 20-gallon holding tank. Adjacent to the toilet is a bucket or hinged compartment containing a mixture of saw dust, shredded leaves and compost. This is the cover material that is put into the barrel after use to soak up fluids, leaving no odors and a slightly earthy smell. When the toilet barrel is ¾ full (about 1 month for a single person) the whole barrel is removed from the cabinet to an outside composting system for further decomposition. The toilet barrel also has a drain in which liquids can flow to an outside composting chamber or other greenfilter water treatment system (below). The bathroom and toilet cabinet can be fashionably designed and decorated etc. to make it even more pleasant.

In our growing method of cultivation the influence of the moon, planets and stars on plant growth plays a central role.

In this method of cultivation, in addition to the compost preparations, the cow-pat pit horn manure and horn silica preparations are also of decisive importance. This preparation is sprayed on the soil just before sowing. It promotes better root growth and thus creates the right conditions for healthy, strong plant growth.  


 

To avoid using a standard septic system that releases high levels of concentrated nitrogen into the ground water supply and nearest rivers, the art center will incorporate an ecological based wastewater management system that allows for greywater (showers, sinks, toilets etc) to be purified and reused. One of two systems will be used:

A greefilter system is one composed of a greywater pipe that runs downhill from the house or building into a shallow depression filled with woodchips, leaves and topsoil, and above planted with sewage treatment plants – plants that take up nitrogen, other useful nutrients found in greywater and breakdown undesirable substances. Then purified water will naturally seep deeper back into the ground water supply. Plants from the area will naturally grow around this depression and make it a pleasant looking planted area all year long. The other system is a closed-water treatment system often called an Eco-machine. In this system the greywater pipes will run into a series of tanks or a pond filled with various plants, fish, bacteria and other organisms that naturally breakdown toxins and use nutrients found in our wastewater. The purified water can then be pumped back up to the buildings to be reused in sinks, toilets and showers or allowed to drain into the river without polluting it.