The Lighthouse
Intentional Community
City Repair/Village
Building Convergence Õ06 Project: Lighthouse
Cob Structure
2111 S.E. Madison Street,
Portland, Oregon 97214-3835, (503)
234-6115, http://www.lighthousepdx.org/vbc6,
info@lighthousepdx.org
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The Lighthouse @ 2111
S.E. Madison Street. On the left is the current view from front southeast
corner where the VBC Cobb Lighthouse structure would be built, replacing the
corner of the tiered rock garden in front of the property. Right, a preliminary sketch of the
Lighthouse Cob Structure by designer David Tomlinson, giving an idea of where
the structure would stand and some of its color. |
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We are
part of City RepairÕs annual event,
the Village Building Convergence Õ06,
May 19 Ð 28, 2006. |
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Wow! Ð See
pictures and video from the excavation we did of the garden, April 29 Ð 30,
to prep for VBC Õ06. |
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Oh Wow!
Ð See
pictures of the beginning of the
foundation being laid with Master Natural Builder Meka Bunch. |
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Hyper-Mega-Thunder-Turbo-in
Ð3d-WOW! Ð Pictures
of the actual construction with our Naturual Builder Patrick Hennebery and
his apprentice, Rob Irwin. |
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Patrick
Hennenbery of Cobworks in Canada
will be our Òcob-starÓ natural builder, coming all the way down from the
great white north to be our lead builder on this project. See some amazing pictures of what
Patrick has built in the past. |
The Lighthouse in an Intentional Community of 
lay people who all have some form
of dedicated spiritual practice that involves meditation, as well as being a
group of free thinkers and free spirits, all with some form of social
engagement and/or creative bent.
To foster more of a sense of place and community gathering
in our area of S.E. Madison near 20th in the Buckman neighborhood,
and also to call attention to the Lighthouse as being this kind of resource to
our local community, we will be participating in City RepairÕs VBC Õ06. Our goal is to create a cob structure
that both calls attention to our intentional communityÕs presence as a ÒbeaconÓ
drawing the community in and also to create an artistically beautiful and
inspiring place for community gathering and social interaction. The project will contain Ñ
¥ tear-drop shaped height seats for passers by, dog walkers,
etc.
¥
a cork-board public kiosk for local community public notices behind a window
that opens on hinges
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a dispenser for our own house newsletter, The Lighthouse Beacon.
¥
a ceramic table in the center with a nautilus spiral coming out from it between
the seats, with a chess/checker board pattern on top.
¥
a shelf, perhaps with a hinged window for a "take a book/poem, leave a
book/poem" library
¥ the center of the structure builds up into a
spire that is a "lighthouse," complete with solar panel-powered
l.e.d. lights in the lighthouse
cupola that will shine at night, increasing sidewalk visability
¥ solar powered lights also on the kiosk for
being able to read notices at night.
¥ there will be a ceramic/glass mosaic in the 
structure, particularly towards the bottom, with the
mosaic made to look like the waves and sea foam crashing up against the
lighthouse.
The Lighthouse also intends to provide hospitality and
house some volunteers during the ten days of VBC Õ06.
We are in our mid-term planning stages and can always use
design input or ideas. Plus we
need lots and lots of volunteers to help build and make this project a reality,
both during our excavation/foundation weekend of April 29 Ð May 1, and for the
week of VBC Õ06, May 19 Ð 28, 2006.
If interested in volunteering, please contact us at:
The Lighthouse Intentional Community
2111 S.E. Madison Street
Portland, Oregon
97214-3835
(503) 234-6115