Something that you cannot expect on the modern campus of the state of Keene is a Wigwam-a dome-shaped animal shelter that is traditionally used by indigenous peoples of North America-or an adobe hat, a building style that usually occurs in the southwest.
However, these structures that are apparently outside the position have become a center of innovative research for the sustainable product design and innovation and architectural programs of the college, in which professor and student teams work with the construction functions and environmental influences.
The structures caused a sensation for passers -by.
“Everyone thought it was a cry. They just wanted to know what it was,” said Paul Fowler, assistant professor for architecture. But apart from the curiosity, the intention was to “determine whether this type of structure that was used a long time ago was able to offer comfort at the same level as we see it today,” explained Fowler. The answer turned out to be yes. “Obviously there is no air conditioning, but heat would be the big deal here in Neugland. And you can heat one of these structures to be nice and warm.”
The Wigwam, a temporary structure, served as an experiment to test whether purely visual instructions for building emergency shelters such as in refugee camps could be effective. Fowler was a resource for a team of students who mainly took over the construction project with branches and tarps.
In addition, they “tested the Wigwam for air quality, hydrothermal properties and some other things,” said Zachary Punch '24, who contributed to promoting the subsidized work in the summer of 2024.
When Punch by Fowler and architecture department, Chairman Fernando del Ama Gonzalo was addressed about the construction of an Adobe hut, he accepted and ultimately received a surf scholarship (Summer Bacheluce Fellowship). “The Adobe hut became an expansion of this work. And the department hopes to make different materials in the future,” Fowler remarked.
Continued Fowler, “the fact that college is willing to finance such study work as this is brilliant and valued. Without this additional help, it would not have been able to happen.”
The scholarship made it possible to concentrate on its research efforts for the summer of its last year. “I wanted to know whether Adobe in Neugland is a practical building material.”
Punch has never used Adobe – special for Mudbrick – since it has been part of the building world since childhood. In his early years he worked tree work and later served in the army building construction. When his service ended, he built his own business as a carpenter. “So I knew a lot about building things,” he laughed.
Since neither he nor Fowler had previously worked with Adobe, they spoke strategy throughout the entire process. “We found this stuff together. It's great to work with him,” said Punch.
The first stamp built shapes and filled it with 25 percent clay and 75 percent sand, with a total value mixed.
“We used ground-up wine vines because they contain tannins to help keep the bricks well together,” said Punch. When he did not leave his farm, he switched to cellulose insulation, a shredded mixture of recycled paper products.
After watering, the material had to sit for a few days before removing the shapes. Even then, the bricks could not be moved for another week. When punch with the actual build hadn't come across many obstacles, except that he kept things dry. “It was a big challenge,” he said.
During the summer he traveled to the project location to cover and uncover the shapes with tarpaulins.
While this adds some difficulties, Punch is a supporter of the material that can normally be obtained and mixed on site. “If you have a stream nearby, you probably have sound and sand. And then you can even use lawn cutouts as an unit. So this aspect is really sustainable,” he noted.
The Adobe structure is currently similar to the Wigwam.
“As for the moisture content and the energy consumption of the building, I would say that the Adobe seems to be more sustainable at short notice,” said Punch. “The humidity is out of the charts,” added Fowler. “You have earthen bricks that have been made with a process in which a lot of water was used, and if you rain, take up a lot of water, which is then released into the interior.”
The hut remains in the course of the year so that the data can continue to be collected.
“In the long term, I am not sure how it will do because it takes so much more energy to burn the moisture,” said Punch. “If you go to this hut and there is no heating, it just feels moist than anywhere else.”
So what's next for the team? “I am interested in comparing it with something modern like a straw bale house,” said Fowler. “There is a revival of straw houses in which you build a regular two-time frame, fill the inside with straw and then creep over the outside,” described Punch.
Another idea, which was raised by DEL AMA Gonzalo, is a 3D printed house that is usually made from concrete.
“The problem is that it is quite permanent,” Fowler remarked. The structures on campus are removable. Whatever material will be the next focus, Fowler said: “There is a vision of a variety of them so that we can compare the data.”
The information you have gained so far has already been used well. In October 2024, Punch traveled to Massachusetts to present his research on the hut at the annual conference of the Council of Public Liberal Arts College.
Punch, Fowler and DEL Ama Gonzalo also have a paper about the use of software by the team to test and monitor the energy performance of the hat in various seasons. DEL AMA Gonzalo presented it at the international conference on sustainability, technology and education in Budapest, Hungary.
This type of practical research underlines the department of the department on innovation and real effects, especially in the area of the sustainability core values of the state of Keene. Punch's journey reflects the commitment of the program for the preparation of the students for future challenges, including climate protection, and provided him with skills and experiences that he would like to build on while he studied studies in autumn 2025.