In 2009 Madison High School participated in the Village Building Convergence for the first time. The project was to build an outdoor classroom to serve the school and the bountiful new school garden as well as creating a space for the adjacent community garden participants to seek refuge for the winter rain or summer sun. With the help of City Repair, local builders and designers, many students, teachers, parents, and many different community members, phase one of this project was completed with great success!

A large outdoor classroom with beautiful natural round timber poles and hand-sculpted cob walls now sits at Madison High School, surrounded by lush gardens. With an eco-roof draining to a small rain garden over one half and a metal roof to harvest rain-water on the other side there are many wonderful Ecological design features demonstrated here.

And now it's time for phase two!

This year at the Village Building Convergence (May 28th-June 6th) we plan to complete this project by adding seating, chalk boards, water catchment, and bamboo awning wings! The seating will be made with straw bales and cob, stacked up to provide tiered seating for a class, sculptural cob elements to be designed and created during work parties. The bamboo awnings will be in the form of wings much like the infamous, mythical T-horse. Bamboo is an amazingly strong grass that grows fast, can be sustainably harvested and can cantilever great distances, come learn about bamboo construction with us! The dynamic awning wings will provide shelter from the sun and rain when open, and fold down to provide protection from the wind when needed.

This beautiful structure will benefit the garden program, various classes of students, and community gardeners for many years to come. Please help this project succeed by donating to it today, we have a ways to go still fundraising before the VBC so anything you can contribute would be greatly appreciated and put to good use.

Schedule

• Friday, May 28th

3:15-6pm VBC Kickoff event! Bring food for potluck, enjoy music and start mixing cob!  

• Saturday, May 29th

10am-5pm - Cob mixing & Outdoor Classroom seating construction, Lunch provided

Workshop: 10am-12pm Straw Bale construction with Sebastian Collet

• Sunday, May 30th

10am-2pm, Cob mixing & covering

Workshop: 10am-12pm Permaculture and composting/vermicomposting in an educational setting

• Thursday, June 3rd

12pm-5pm, Outdoor Classroom chalk board & kiosk construction, Snacks provided 

• Saturday, June 5th

10am-5pm, Plastering cob seating, Lunch provided

Workshop:  10am-12pm Plastering and cob maintenance/repair

• Sunday, June 6th

10am-5pm, Plastering cob seating & finishing, Lunch provided

 

See Goolge Calendar below

Playing in the mud and mixing cob.

Raising the large timber frame together.

Setting the large timber frame members.

Timber frame structure and urbanite foundation wall complete.

Bilding the cob wall.

Phase 1 completed. Eco roof and metal roof completed with cob wall.