Set at Te Wānanga o Raukawa and the Forest Lakes Conference Centre on the Kāpiti Coast, the earth building conference will see builders, designers, researchers and earth-building enthusiasts explore how traditional and contemporary earth construction methods are shaping resilient, sustainable futures in Aotearoa and beyond.

Themed ‘Earth, Culture and Community’, the three-day conference in mid-November will include presentations, hands-on workshops, site visits and kōrero with leading voices in natural building, indigenous knowledge, climate-responsive design and regenerative practice, while also profiling New Zealand’s own set of earth building standards (NZS 4297, 4298 and 4299) 2024.

A ‘Professionals Day’ on Friday 14 November at Te Wānanga o Raukawa is aimed specifically at architects, engineers, inspectors, builders and designers interested in earth and natural building techniques. It will dive into the Tennent Brown Architects-designed Pā Reo campus at Te Wānanga (a Living Building Challenge project) and presenters will include Rau Hoskins of designTRIBE, Verena Maeder of Solid Earth and Sigi Koko, founder of Build Naturally USA.

Friday will be followed by the in-depth weekend conference at Forest Lakes, featuring talks and presentations aimed to inform and empower people on different aspects of earth and natural building as well as hands-on workshops in different methods and materials, including clay-based plasters, cob, rammed earth and adobe, straw bale and hempcrete. House tours will feature different building techniques, including straw bale and rammed earth, adobe, natural plasters and more.

For more and to register for the November 14—16 conference, visit earthbuilding.org.nz