Nineteen-hundred housing units are currently needed on Crow Tribal Lands in Southeastern Montana. In contrast, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development currently funds the construction of five homes per year. That's one of the reasons why the people of the Apsáalooke Nation have taken the situation into their own hands. A tribally-owned company called Good Earth Lodges was recently incorporated to address the significant needs for adequate and affordable housing options on tribal lands. Good Earth Lodges will use federal stimulus funds to employ 25 people to produce compressed earth blocks (CEBs) and construct 27 houses within the next two years.
CU-Boulder's Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities is supporting the Crow Nations in their efforts. In 2007, when faculty and student researchers began discussing the idea of using locally-made CEBs from local ingredients, tribal leaders strongly supported the idea. The concept of using earthen materials to create homes fits well with the tribe's spiritual beliefs in a deep reverence for nature. Using local materials and local labor to meet the housing needs for his tribal members made perfect sense. The Department of the Interior's Division of Energy and Mineral Development provided funding for CU-Boulder faculty and students to conduct materials testing and provide housing design services to the Crow Tribes. CU's involvement is intended to ensure that the structural integrity of the earthen materials so that the CEBs are able to withstand the harsh weather conditions of Montana.
Tom Bowen, project director with CU-Boulder’s Mortenson Center for Engineering in Developing Communities, is working with the tribe to develop quality control and quality assurance procedures for their new CEB manufacturing facility, which he helped establish. Tom leads the research and testing necessary to determine the best combination of materials and procedures to create blocks that meet typical housing codes. Although compressed earth blocks have been used worldwide for many years, Montana is further north than other locations where this type of construction is typically used. Therefore, the bricks need to withstand different weather patterns, including a severe, frequent freeze-thaw cycle.
Assistant Professor Matthew Jelacic and Instructor Rob Pyatt from the College of Architecture and Planning worked in partnership with tribal members to develop spacious floor plans that are designed to be durable and low-maintenance, and can accommodate large families living in small areas. Passive solar features and geothermal heating systems were also integrated into the designs so that the new homes are energy efficient. One goal of this project is to reduce monthly heating and cooling costs by 90% compared to what owners of similarly-sized modular homes pay.
Construction on the first four homes has begun and the CU-Boulder team is hopeful that the Apsáalooke Nation will be self-sufficient in all aspects of this project within the next two years. If successful, the Mortenson Center hopes to assist other tribes evaluate the feasibility of developing their own housing and/or compressed earth block production industries.
Read more at http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_025880aa-801e-11df-90fa-001cc4c03286.html
The Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities (MC-EDC) promotes integrated and participatory solutions to humanitarian development by educating globally responsible engineering students and professionals to address the problems faced by developing communities worldwide. For more information visit the program page at http://outreach.colorado.edu/programs/details/id/129