Turning over a new Woodleaf

Among the features on the Nevada County property set to become home to Woodleaf Outdoor School are two of the largest buildings in North America constructed of rammed earth, and 13 small coiled-earth dome cabins.

The man who designed them also designed communities meant for life on the moon.

An educational nonprofit now based in Portland, Ore., originally hired architect Nader Khalili - renowned for his work with environmentally sustainable materials - in the mid-1990s. The idea, called EnCompass, was an experimental school designed to serve families from diverse backgrounds.

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The creativity and idealism that went into that financially failed project will ultimately be Woodleaf’s gain, according to Sutter County Schools Superintendent Jeff Holland, who helped negotiate for the property.

“The kitchen alone is the dream of any chef,” he said, and the fully furnished dining facility it’s part of “is world class.”

Woodleaf Outdoor School is scheduled to open on the recently purchased 132-acre site next fall.

The building that had been designed by Khalili as a lodge and dining hall for the alternative school measures about 6,000 square feet - enormous compared to most rammed-earth projects, says Grass Valley architect David Wright.

Wright was called in some time after Khalili’s plans were drawn to make practical adjustments.

He adapted the plans to meet building code requirements and then oversaw construction of the school building, which was also a large, experimental rammed-earth project.

Khalili’s design, and the resulting work, Wright said, “is very beautiful.”

The buildings were made largely from earth that was dug out of the site itself, Wright said. They also make use of sustainably harvested lumber and copper shingles that were recycled from another building and sold on the Internet, he said.

“It was all very expensive,” Wright said, “but good for mother earth.”

A former Peace Corps volunteer, Wright once worked in Africa and the Middle East, and is familiar with some of the ancient styles of home building that influenced Khalili.

After the EnCompass project folded, Wright was hired by owners of Shady Creek Family Camp and Conference Center, the property’s next owners.

As part of an expansion plan, he designed 20 additional cabins in the more conventional style of early 20th century miners’ homes.

But the property’s most remarkable aspects, Wright said, lies in Khalili’s designs.

Iranian-born Khalili was schooled early on in philosophy and architecture in Iran and Turkey.

According to a Web site for his nonprofit, California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture, his published works include not only several architecture books - one, with the title, “Sidewalks on the Moon,” - but one that features his English translations of work by the Persian mystic poet, Rumi.

Khalili once made a presentation to NASA officials, where he proposed the creation of structures using lunar soil, melted by the sun, and set into molds, according to the Web site.

The 13 cabins he designed on the Nevada County site have been built, “like a coiled pot turned upside down,” said Wright.

Decomposed granite and cement were rolled into long sausage-link-shaped logs and then were laid in circles, one upon another, to form coiled dome structures.

The basis for this style “is very old world,” Wright said, and “very labor intensive and idealistic.”

Wright’s own now-adult children once attended Woodleaf Outdoor School at its current site near Challenge. The Nevada County property makes sense, he said, as the site for studying science and nature.

“You really have to see this,” said Holland of the architectural works that are part of Sutter Schools’ $4.4 million deal.

“It’s unique, it’s low-energy (energy efficient), and they’re just stunning buildings.”

Appeal-Democrat reporter Nancy Pasternack can be reached at 749-4712. You may e-mail her at npasternack@appealdemocrat.com