The teleconference we had with members of the Tribe this week included several members of the Tribal Council; their input allowed us to narrow down the sustainable engineering systems we will design:

1. The home will include a geothermal heat pump, which will be installed by a tribal task force. The heat pump will provide heating and cooling for the home at a fraction of the cost of conventional furnaces and air conditioners.
2. The grey water irrigation + composting toilet system was given the final okay; this system will reduce water consumption by 35%, will provide intensive irrigation for the garden. This garden will include herbs important to Pomo culture, and plants native to the local Ukiah region.
3. A rainwater catchment tank will be used to supplement the well; this tank will be installed underground. Cares4Pomo is currently researching two options for the water supply system: having a single booster pump at the site of the rain catchment tank, or having a smaller storage tank on the roof of the home, and a smaller booster pump at that site.
4. Cares4Pomo is currently investigating the pros and cons of radiant flooring versus forced air heating.

The interchange was informative for all parties, and as always, I'm excited for our next discussion!

Based on the previous workshops which emphasized the importance of privacy, storage space, round shapes and more and based on the last charrette which developed these previous ideas into the "eyeball" design, we started sketching alternatives for the house.

We produced 3 alternatives designed to be built from straw-bales and based on the eyeball shape which has a spiritual core in the middle instead of a conventional living room:

The team visited a straw bale building in the Berkeley Marina, the Shorebird Nature Center. We received a thorough tour and were very excited to see a hydronic heating system, wind turbine, and solar panels, all in action.

The team has been developing several new home layouts for the Tribe to choose from, which will be made up in both 2d and 3d forms. The "eye" shape developed at the workshop last week is the favored design.

The workshop in Ukiah went wonderfully yesterday. It was a long day, but the members of the PPN did a great job in the co-design, and we came out with some wonderful ideas and a great direction for the home.

After introductions and a site walk-through in the morning, Yael Perez (along with help from Dave Rhoades and BT Nguyen) gave a presentation on alternative materials to be considered for the site.