a truck, it churned up a lot of papercrete
slurry. The mixer was improved on later with
a sturdy steel tank and supports were added
at the bottom so it could be tilted. This made
shoveling out the mix easier. We made
wooden forms, poured in the mix, and waited
for the blocks to dry. Working with Hal
Flanders, we did tests on the blocks to make
sure they were strong, lightweight and
fireproof.
My first attempt at building something was
a small wall in front of our house. The blocks
on the wall tended to shrink by adding cement
alone, but by adding about 30% sand, it not
only reduced the shrinkage but gave them
thermal mass and helped with the
fireproofing. The next project to try was a
small pump house for a hot tub on our
property in Sunny Glen canyon near Alpine.
With this small 7’x 7’ storage shed it seemed
I was getting the hang of it, and with some
helpers I started building a barrel vault guest
house in front of the pump house. All this was
done on a mountainside, making it a bit of a
challenge. It was a learning experience, but
the barrel vault took shape, simulating a
method similar to mud brick building in the
Middle East 4,000 years ago. The principles
of making domes and vaults had been revived
by the master Egyptian builder Nader Khalili
who wrote a book called Earth Architecture,
and that was our guide for laying up the
blocks to create a vault-shaped roof. In the
meantime, Simone Swan, who was building a
beautiful adobe home near Presidio and who
was a strong advocate of Khalili’s designs,
was using those same formulas in her barrel
vaults and domes. After consulting with her
and observing the skill of the adoberos at
work, it became clear that the same method
of laying up the adobe bricks could also work
with papercrete blocks. Given that PC blocks
“My own introduction
to the building
material began in the
spring of 1998,
standing in front of
the Starlight Theater
in Terlingua...”
are about three times lighter than adobes,
therefore reducing the heavy labor involved,
it was a no-brainer to conclude this could
work on our barrel vault, too.
The word got out about what we were up
to. The Alpine Avalanche ran a story on it. Not
long after, Channel 8 in Dallas caught wind
of it and put it on their evening news. Then
Texas Country Reporter came out and filmed
an episode called “Recyclers’ Paradise.”
Interest in papercrete all around the Big Bend
was growing, and others were trying their
hand at it. Clyde Curry and Kate Thayer of
Marathon came to see the barrel vault under
construction and soon began the amazing
Eve’s Garden, which today is evolving
(Above) Geri Cornier Papercrete home, Alpine.
Casa Cabra Marfa, Domed tower
expeditiously thanks to Alaine Berg and
Noble Baker. Clyde, who had just finished a
straw bale house, could see the potential of
PC right away. Guil Jones, Wes Spears,
Danielle Gallo, Paty Hernandez, to name a
few, were building creative things and putting
Marathon on the map as a papercrete mecca.
Rich Gill over in Marfa was also building a PC
Cenizo
Spring 2020
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