Zome Building Workshop in Mazunte

Even though we are super involved in our own construction project here at Itínera Theater, some of us just can't help going on additional natural building workshops, even though it may have not the slightest connection to our build. And why not? Not only does it satisfy our insatiable curiosity, but it gets us in contact with other natural builders in the area, shows us how nice a well organized workshop can be, and possibly provide ideas to copy and expand on them. Plus we got to connect with the emerging Permaculture Hub of Mazunte, who organized the workshop, and learned what a zome is, which we built from start to finish.

What's a Zome, Really?

Combining the words dome and zonohedron (a point-symmetrical convex polyhedron), a zome can be summed up as a type of geodesic dome with a point on the top. Known for its immense strength, it has been popular in alternative approaches to architecture. At our workshop we wanted to construct a small one of maybe 1.5 meters tall, big enough to provide a kind of jungle gym for the kids to play on. The structure was also of a simpler design, only eight sides and five levels, whereas a complete zome would have thirteen sides and nine levels, including all the Fibonacci and Sacred Geometry you could ever want.

Relaxed and Involved, Key Attributes to a Great Workshop

Stephane and I arrived only ten minutes after the official starting time (a la Méxicana), but at that time the group was already halfway through their introduction. As laid back as you'd think a combination of Mexican, hippie, and beach town could be, they were actually pretty much on the dot. The same thing goes for all other essential things: tools, material, information, food and water, etc. Very well done!

Given the large number of tourists, travelers, expats, and other types of foreigners, I was a bit worried about a possible language barrier, but that was never an issue. In fact, thanks to the helpfulness and multi-lingual backgrounds of most participants and presenters, Spanish, English, German and French were all used to clarify the least bit of doubt. This was particularly handy when the information printouts were handed out, all straight from a French website, of course in French! Despite my innitial shock, this turned out to be no problem at all: the numbers are the same anyway, and with so much help around I almost felt like I could read French myself. One more reason to get back into improving my French skills...

Rolling Up Our Sleeves

After about half an hour of discussion, we were ready to jump into work. There were plenty of stations, cutting boards to the right length and the correct angles, assembling them into triangles and rhombi, as well as cutting and bending threaded bars into bolts to fix the modules to each other.

It was all pretty straight forward. Once you got into the routine, it was mostly a repetitive job, perfect for a decent size group so everyone could try each task. Of course, you still had to keep your wits up, making sure to attach the right side, and cut the exact angle required, etc. Still, there was no sense of rush or urgency, and we proceeded in a way you could see the structure growing.

Eventually the pieces took up the shape of a circle, slowly morphing into a dome. Soon it was begging for something to join it at the top point. Once all the pieces were in place, we started tightening the nuts, which ironically got other nuts loose, as the structure was holding itself together more and more.

It was early evening by the time we got done, and we placed the zome outside in the garden, to admire it. In spite of its light weight (two people could carry it without any strain), it could easily support five of us climbing on top of it.

Ideas to Copy

While it was exciting to assemble the zome and get to know new people at the workshop, the part that got us both excited were the seemingly infinite possibilities of natural building workshops we could offer at the theater property, next year, once our current structure has its roof beams in place:

Reciprocal Roof Workshop, with our roof as a completed example, and many rods of manageable size for the participants to play around with.
Green Roof Workshop This promises to be a more extensive, longer-term deal, for folks who may want to commit to a couple of weeks of implementing a green roof.
Tire Wall Workshop While hundreds of tires are way too much to be organized into a workshop, the small stem-wall between our doors is ideal for that.
Rock Wall Workshop on top of the tires, once again on the small, non-structural wall between our doors.
Bottle Wall Workshop above the rock wall. That little wall seems like a gold-mine for workshops.
Cob Making Workshop This one we could hold even twice a week, as the entire inside of the building needs to be plastered with cob.
Water Systems Workshop Setting up the roof drainage into the cistern is a task that could be made interesting enough for a workshop.

Fueled by these ideas, we returned to the property in an exuberantly elevated mood. The sight of the growing tire wall filled us with pride and worry at the same time. Sure enough, we've made good progress, having the eighth course of tires in place and leveled. Still, we'll need a few more hands, and a bit more working hours if we are to get the beams up within a month.