An Adobe Abode
Indonesia’s Lombok Island suffered a series of devastating earthquakes in July and August 2018. Ranging from 5.9 to 7.0 on the Richter scale, these earthquakes claimed close to 600 lives, destroyed over 67,000 houses and displaced more than 445,000 people. Help and care came from the Indonesian government and various international organisations, but efforts to rebuild settlements and facilities are slow. Refugees and survivors are also reluctant to start rebuilding permanent structures for fear of more earthquakes. A neighbouring eco resort that escaped the worst of the disaster offers a sustainable solution.
Located in the southern part of the island, Dome Lombok Eco Village was founded by Swedes David Paulin and Christian Göran in 2016. The resort aims to become a sustainable, self-sufficient community using adobe architecture and permaculture, as well as crowd funding and various collaborations with organisations that have like-minded missions. The villas and facilities of Dome Lombok were built using the revolutionary SuperAdobe technique, which combines traditional adobe architecture of Iranian deserts with contemporary global building safety requirements.
Developed by Iran-born American architect Nader Khalili, SuperAdobe uses sandbags filled with moistened earth arranged in layers or long coils. Acting as mortar and reinforcement of this structure are strands of barbed wire placed between each layer of sandbag. The resulting domed structure is then finished with stabilisers like cement, lime or asphalt emulsion. The process was described as similar to how a potter stacks coils of clay to make a vessel. Khalili was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004 for the project.
The areas that are most severely impacted by the earthquake were the low-income villages populated by makeshift houses. “Most of them had compromised on building materials when they built their homes. None of these homes could survive the earthquakes,” recalls Ghazal Amini, Dome Lombok’s project manager.
She adds, “The survivors didn’t want to build the conventional way anymore but they didn’t really have an alternative. Then we had the idea – what if we teach the local villagers to build SuperAdobe domes? They are earthquake-resistant, low-cost and quick to build.”
Partnering with local communities, government officials and NGO Building Trust International, Dome Lombok set up a fundraising page to fund the first dome to shelter the earthquake survivors. The first dome was built in four weeks and served as a case study and proof of SuperAdobe’s viability.
For the second dome, Dome Lombok invited people from all over the world to a two-week workshop. It served as an additional revenue stream that funded the construction. Participants gained first-hand experience of SuperAdobe. The effort is an excellent case study of how social entrepreneurship works in the digital age and a demonstration of the increasing appreciation for sustainability. Amini shares that Dome Lombok will organise more workshops in the future. Those keen to donate can visit gofundme.com/domesfor-lombok. Pictured is one of the SuperAdobe villas at Dome Lombok Eco Village. Photo courtesy of Dome Lombok.