[GSBN] nomination and update

[Tom Woolley]

Dear Alex
Can you clarify your position on Palestine?
I was asked to speak at a conference of the International Communal  
Studies Association at Findhorn,
however it emerged that  ICSA, which is based in Israel, could not  
provide satisfactory answers to our questions about kibbutz that have  
been built on occupied palestinian land
What I saw of the building stuff on your webs sites looks great but I  
couldn't find much about involving Palestinians (though it was  
mentioned on one site and I got the impression that Palestinians were  
involved) .
thanks

Tom
PS I can send you the discussion document that was issued by ARC-PEACE  
on the issue of ICSA which led to a decision to boycott the ICSA  
conference if you are interested.
I am not sure myself that boycotts are always the right thing to do as  
it can be important to support progressive people in israel





On 14 Nov 2012, at 12:22, Alex Cicelsky (Kibbutz Lotan) wrote:

> Dear Balefolk,
>
> Two weeks ago we had a convergence of the core group of Israeli  
> straw bale builders and designers, earth and lime plasterers and  
> educators.  While it’s a challenge to share knowledge in a limited  
> marketplace, there is a process of development from competition to  
> cooperation and quality control.   We spoke a lot about connecting  
> with colleagues who are experts - in particular in the area of lime  
> plastering which is being reborn in this country where 2000+ years  
> ago everyone had a lime slaking pit in their backyard.  About 60  
> folk attended with an equal proportion of men and women. I assume  
> you met Michal Vital at the ISBC. She presented an overview of your  
> event and the tour.
>
> I would like to take this opportunity to nominate Michal Vital  
> [website http://www.vital-baron.com/   email mvital63 at gmail.com ] to  
> the GSBN.  We first met working together on the Medwed-Bustan-Wadi  
> El Naam Bedouin Clinic project http://openarchitecturenetwork.org/projects/391 
> .  Since then she’s become a prominent and highly regarded Green  
> Architect in the country specializing in natural building, strawbale  
> houses and energy efficiency design.  She works wonderfully with  
> clients, engineers and builders.
>
> One more item: four of our students have started their own natural  
> building construction company specializing in strawbales.  The name  
> of the company is Bottz  www.bottz.co.il  which is Mud in Hebrew.   
> The website is in Hebrew (y’all know how to use the Chrome translate  
> option)  - the images speak for themselves.  Together with Bottz we  
> have completed an earth plastered ‘light straw’ fire test wall (photohttp://on.fb.me/T30Fyi 
>   before plastering.  For technical reasons they made blocks instead  
> of the normative form-in-place method) and we're waiting for the  
> Standards Institute of Israel to give us a date for the fire test,  
> hopefully within two weeks.
>
> B’shalom, Alex
>
> Alex Cicelsky | Director of Research and Development
> Center for Creative Ecology | Kibbutz Lotan 88855 Israel
> +972-54-979-9009 |  alex at klotan.co.il
> College, Training & Design Programs | Eco-Network |  YouTube Channel  
> | Free EcoGuide App | BirdingIsrael
>
>
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Tom Woolley

Rachel Bevan Architects
80 Church Road
Crossgar
Downpatrick
BT30 9HR
tom.woolley at btconnect.com
028 44 831164
028 44 830988
www.bevanarchitects.com




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