Rancho Mastatal Ceiba lounge
The Ceiba lounge at Rancho Mastatal was built using various natural building techniques, including cob, wattle and daub, earthen plaster, chorizo, taquezal, clay paint, earth bag, and a nylon web technique. It serves as an example for many of the natural building techniques used around the farm. It is also a space slightly away from the bustle of the main house where one may relax. The roofed area around the lounge will be made into a processing kitchen for making things like cheese, soda balm, stocks, soap, and homemade beer known as "hooch".
Natural Building Techniques[edit | edit source]
The Ceiba lounge exemplifies many different natural building techniques. The table below shows which techniques were used on various parts of the lounge.
| Image | Description |
|---|---|
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This is the left seating area. This section was made with cob. |
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This is a section made with a technique called chorizo (which means sausage in spanish). It involves wrapping straw around a piece of bamboo rolled in a clay slip and plastering over the them. |
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The left half of this section was made using a technique known as taquezal, which is very similar to wattle and daub, but it is less structured, and it has larger spaces between tensile strength materials. The right half of this section was made with a wattle and daub technique. |
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This small section underneath the wood platform was made using a nylon webbing technique with earthen plaster. |
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The exterior of the Ceiba Lounge was finished using an earthen scratch coat, lime plaster and lime wash. The floor was made with gravel, sand, an earthen floor mix and finished with a clay paint. It was then sealed with linseed oil. |
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The roofing above the lounge is supported by bamboo framing. These images show some of the basic structure of the framework. |