New Earth held a course in June/July 2014 to discover in person some of the principles of Ceramic Houses, by building a small Rumi Dome at the Caravanserai gardens in Canning Town, London. The workshop was attended by students and enthusiasts from London and Europe who built the 3 metre structure over three weekends.  Following traditional dome building concepts, the group developed further innovations for speed and simpler connections. The dome fused dry pack techniques which rely on gravity, and integrated ceramic glaze (earthen ochre mix) during construction. The form was elliptical and used two compasses. Though it was planned to fire the dome at the end, like many research projects, this stage will be a chapter for the next project, due to certain on-site logistics. The dome is sound and strong in its un-fired state, as the brick were pre-fired ceramic; it is a testament to the success of the construction innovations, and is being enjoyed by visitors to the Caravanserai.

The pot-luck lunches shared good food and tea hospitality from local residents, in Caravanserai’s oasis of humble, natural serenity, amidst the noise of traffic and high-rise apartments hastily being constructed all around.  Every time the London rain poured down suddenly, the group ran across the road to the cafe for a theory class. And at the end of a long day, inspiring frame-drum (daf), gajda, and ehru music from Khaled Hakim and his band, gave the team energy for dancing, gymnastics, and soccer in the sand. Between new friends and brothers, we are sure some long lasting friendships were formed.

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Above: Rumi Dome, Cal-Earth Institute 1992 (photo Iliona Khalili/Cal-Earth)

“The importance of that structure is that it is created from only one point in the center—the center of [the] compass. The center of compass is when you create a circle which is the base of the structure.  And as you move up, you just keep going around. You can lay bricks, blocks, adobe, anything—and let the light in different seasons and different times of the day enter through these lacy openings, like thousands of eyes that see through these holes. The light will enter. Rather than putting in a huge picture window, each one becomes an eye. You see that what you’ve really created is not this “dome.” It is something that one unity at the center has created. And that center, that one dot, is where the sound will concentrate, right at the center. If you stand at that center, you will have an experience that no one else will have.  So in the light, the sound, the energy, the physical entity of that building, there is a unity throughout that comes from that one point. And that one point is the point also that is the creation of  the whole solar system, the galaxy.”  –  architect Nader Khalili

Last week, Andreas and I took the chance on a sunny London day to cycle through the city and visit a number of central community gardens, This was to both distribute posters for our upcoming shelter workshop in Shropshire and to start up a dialogue with people and places that are putting into action similar thoughts to ours – community living, permaculture philosophy, structures that work with the landscape and sustainable living in any environment – particularly relevant as they are achieving this in a dense urban environment utilizing small, in-between spaces. Seek out city farms and gardens near you.

We met at Culpeper Community Garden, who kindly let us borrow some office equipment to prepare the posters. There was an amazing amount of plants within this secluded and tranquil place with winding paths that disappeared into the thick, diverse foliage, the air smelled sweet and we forgot the bustle of city road cycling immediately.

The next one was Calthorpe Community Gardens. A great place with all sorts of people and activities happening, we were met by a man sitting at the entrance bridge who directed us round. They are in the process of building a large cob oven with an outdoor kitchen area, looks like a great place to meet. An earthbag seating area or talking circle would work brilliantly there and people were enthusiastic about this idea. The wonderful lady that took us around the gardens has a great project in mind –to build a small shop from which to sell produce and plants, they already have a circular base from an old sun dial now shaded off from working by larger shrubs and trees, an ideal platform for a small dome – a perfect little shop! She also showed us the little pond in an area behind the greenhouse and their new bees.

A little while later we arrived at a brilliant garden, Camley Street Natural Park, situated between the grand union canal and Kings Cross station. We found a spot by their outdoor eating area, equipped with two cob ovens where we sat to enjoy the pleasant environment and enjoy the sun for over an hour, they also had a large pond with marshy area and paths to peaceful little spots to sit and contemplate, and we saw some good potential spots for workshops!

We then cycled over to Spitalfields, a oducing garden with animals and polytunnels, a kids area, fire-pit and yurt. As we pinned our poster up, two big pigs grunted by followed shortly by a small flock of sheep. This is where we met up with Iliona before discussing the day over dinner in Brick Lane.It was such an inspiring day, visiting some exciting and peaceful hidden pockets of happiness near central London. Everybody we spoke to was enthusiastic about New Earth and the potential of further contact with us. A finishing thought that we discussed over dinner; a quote from Nader Khalili’s book ‘Sidewalks on the Moon’:

‘No one can prove there is a meaning to life.
I must make my own life meaningful, that is all.’