Nader Khalili, California architect/author is
the world renowned Iranian-American Earth Architecture
teacher and innovator of the Geltaftan Earth-and-Fire
System known as Ceramic Houses, and of the Superblock
construction system. Khalili received his philosophy and
architectural education in Iran, Turkey, and the United
States. He has been a licensed architect in the State of
California since 1970, and has practiced both in the
U.S. and abroad. Since 1975 he has been involved with
Earth Architecture and Third World Development, and is a
U.N. (UNIDO) consultant for Earth Architecture, the
Ceramic Houses and SuperBlock Technologies. In 1984 the
award for "Excellence in Technology" went to him for the
innovation of the Ceramic Houses system, from the
California Council of the American Institute of
Architects (CCAIA), and in 1987 Khalili's project
"Housing for the Homeless: Research and Education"
received a Certificate of Special Recognition from the
U.N. International Year of Shelter for the Homeless and
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Since 1984, Lunar and Space habitation have
become an integral part of his work; his "Magma
Structures" design, based on the Geltaftan (Ceramic
Houses) System, and "Velcro-Adobe" system (later to
become the Superblock/ sandbag and barbed wire system)
were presented at the 1984 NASA symposium, "Lunar Bases
and Space Activities of the 21st Century". He was
subsequently invited to Los Alamos National Laboratory
as a visiting scientist. He has presented papers and has
been published since 1984 in several symposiums and
publications including those of NASA, and the "Journal
of Aerospace Engineering" for which he was awarded by
the American Society of Civil Engineers. Khalili was a
member of the team of the "Lunar Resources Processing
Project," along with the Princeton -based Space Studies
Institute, McDonnell Douglas Space Systems, and Alcoa.
Since 1982 Khalili has been directing the
Architectural Research Program at SCI-Arc, California.
He is the director and founder of the Geltaftan
Foundation, and the California Institute of Earth Art
and Architecture (Cal-Earth) since 1986. Current
projects include the Sustainable Desert Village and
Hesperia Museum & Nature Center, the Rodeo/Arena for
the Mojave Desert city of Hesperia, erosion
stabilization of Hesperia Lake, a FEMA related project.
At Cal-Earth he continues building and testing
prototypes in Earth Architecture for inclusion in the
Uniform Building Code. Recent work has been funded by
grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the
Katharine Tremaine Foundation, the Rex Foundation, the
Leventis Foundation, Our Ultimate Investment Foundation,
the Turner Foundation, and the Flora Family Foundation.
His five books were written while evolving
these techniques and his philosophy of architecture.
"Racing Alone", and "Ceramic Houses and Earth
Architecture: How to Build Your Own", while developing
the Geltaftan "Earth and Fire" system for building
ceramic houses; "Sidewalks on the Moon", while designing
for the moon, a journey through tradition and
technology; and "Rumi, Fountain of Fire", translations
of 75 poems from the Persian language mystic poet, Rumi
whose wisdom concerning humanity and the elements of
Earth, Water, Air and Fire are the inspiration behind
his work; and "Rumi, Dancing the Flame", 300 Rubayiat
short poems of Rumi.
Khalili's "Works and Words" have been widely
exhibited and published in the US and internationally
including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the
Institute of American Indian Arts Museum in Santa Fe,
New Mexico; and broadcast on national and statewide TV
channels such as the BBC World Service and Voice of
America. Over 100 hands-on workshops and lectures have
been conducted in the U.S. and abroad, from Princeton
University/ Princeton New Jersey, International Space
University/MIT Boston Mass., to inmates of Chino and
other prisons, from NASA (National Aeronautics and Space
Administration) / Washington D.C., Los Alamos National
Laboratory/ New Mexico, to many Native American
Reservations, the Eight Northern Pueblos/ San Juan New
Mexico, and from children in South Central Los Angeles
hospitals to the Universities of California, national
and international universities.
Khalili's architectural works also include:
the design of a future-oriented community for 5,000
inhabitants for Future City/Villages, Intl. in New
Cuyama, California in 1988 (prototype structures were
built on-site, and pre-fabricated vault modules were
built, fired and glazed at a brick factory); Malekshahr
of Isfahan, a community for 20,000, which was designed
and partially constructed by 1979; the Middle East
headquarters of Dupont/ Polyacryl was designed and
supervised, completed in 1978; over 100 projects of
conventional buildings ranging from high-rise to single
residence.
Geltaftan Foundation/ Cal-Earth:
10376
Shangri La Avenue
Hesperia CA 92345.
Tel: (760)
244-0614 Fax: (760) 244-2201
Email: calearth@aol.com
LECTURES AND WORKSHOPS CONDUCTED BY
KHALILI INCLUDE:
Princeton University/ Princeton,
New Jersey
Space Studies Institute/ Princeton, New
Jersey
International Space University/ MIT, Boston,
Mass.
Carnegie Mellon Institute/ Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
Los Alamos National Laboratory, New
Mexico
National Aeronautics and Space Administration/
W D.C.
Ohio State University/ Columbus,
Ohio
California Art Education Assoc. Conf./ San
Diego, Calif.
Ball State University/ Muncie,
Indiana
Rensslaer Polytechnic Institute/ Troy, New
York
Catholic University of America/Washington,
D.C.
North Dakota State University/ Fargo, North
Dakota
University of Wisconsin/ Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
University of Arizona/ Tucson,
Arizona
Pitzer College/ Claremont,
California
Claremont Graduate School/ Claremont,
California
California Polytechnic Institute/ San Luis
Obispo
California Polytechnic Institute/
Pomona
University of California/
Riverside
University of California/ Santa
Barbara
University of California/ Los
Angeles
Southern California Institute of
Architecture
Southern California Ceramic
Association
Ojai Foundation/ Ojai,
California
Institute of American Indian Arts/ Santa
Fe, New Mexico
Eight Northern Pueblos/ San Juan, New
Mexico
College of Santa Fe/ Santa Fe, New
Mexico
Rough Rock, Navajo Reservation/
Arizona
Tsaili Community College/ Navajo Reservation,
Arizona
Lindisfarne Institute/ Creston,
Colorado
University of Baja/ Mexico
San Jose/
Costa Rica
University of Cairo/ Egypt
University
of Tehran
United Nations (regional conference)
Tehran/ Iran
Eos Institute/Laguna,
California
American Institute of Architects/Los
Angeles
American Institute of Architects/Inland
Empire
Arcosanti/Arizona
TELEVISION AND RADIO
PRESENTATIONS
Channel 28, Los Angeles, Public
Broadcasting System
Channel 28, Los Angeles, "FUTURE"
PBS
Channel 2, Los Angeles, a CBS Station
Channels
9, 4, and 8, Los Angeles
KPFK Radio, Los
Angeles
Group W, Westinghouse Cable TV/ Sierra Madre,
Cal..
KCST, International Channel, Los Angeles,
California
Voice of America English and Farsi
Services
BBC World Service, London
CNN News
BBC
TV
NBC
CBS
PBS
Discovery channel
National
Geographic
and numerous other newspaper, magazines
and online publications such as Space.com.
EXHIBITIONS
Institute of American
Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, NM
Centre Georges
Pompidou/ Paris, France
Museum of Contemporary Arts/
Tehran, Iran
Various Universities and Educational
Galeries in U.S.
For a more complete profile, please
search Google.com - Nader Khalili
"Hesperia Domes pass Seismic Test....Earth
Architecture has made it to the big leagues" Victor
Valley Daily Press
"We think this design has the potential of
revolutionizing the housing industry! said Hesperia
Mayor." Hesperia Resorter
"Look inside the demonstration houses he's
built and you see spacious beauty. They meet all
building codes, are energy efficient, weathertight, and
so solid they passed the most gruelling stress tests. "-
CNN World News
"The building was stronger than the testing
equipment ."" - (Hesperia building official)
"People
are coming from all over the world to Hesperia,
California, to learn this simple way of building." -
(Hesperia Mayor) - CNN World News
"The buildings are cool in summer and warm in
winter, probably the most environmentally friendly homes
you'll ever come across..... " -BBC (British
Broadcasting Corp.)
"To this visionary architect the earth
houses... are the obvious response to 21st century
housing shortages, deforestation, the energy crunch and
even the physical sickness brought on by the toxic
exhalations of modern building materials. " - Orange
County Register
" Cutting Edge Housing: In Hesperia Architect
Nader Khalili is showing off his sandbag home... Malibu
architect Eric Lloyd Wright, after viewing it said it's
just the kind of organic architecture his grandfather
talked about, and engineering tests show it'll hold up
to earthquakes..."- Los Angeles Times
"We haven't had people with this kind of
vision since Frank Lloyd Wright died', said Hesperia
redevelopment manager...." - Victor Valley Daily Press
"A Hesperia Architect has seen the future of
affordable housing." - San Bernadino Sun
"His hope is to create truly low-cost housing
in many parts of the world." - AIA Journal :
Architecture
"The Excellence in Technology Award,
California Council/American Institute ofArchitects, went
to him for his work." - Los Angeles Times
"Without this spirit of pioneering no
thoroughgoing changes can take place to create
anenvironmentally harmonious architecture."- LA
Architect
"...Creating a city from the dust under their
feet using a variety of earthen construction
techniques."- Automated Housing
"Making Bricks without Clay: Sandbags and
barbed wire, often the materials of war, havebecome the
building blocks of peace at Cal-Earth in Hesperia."-
Daily Press
"...a family should be able to walk to a
piece of land and build themselves a homewithout timber,
steel or concrete. Just the earth alone should
suffice."- Ceramic Monthly
"... a vision that could be of considerable
value to architecture in development"- Mimar
"His architecture has a quasi-mystic
character..."- Centre Georges Pompidou
"It came about because of the sun, because of
the wind, because of the earth"- Permaculture Journal
"A revolution in the traditional architecture
of Iran..." Museum Contemporary Art, Tehran
"It is cool in the summer, warm in the
winter, water-and fireproof, and beautiful."- L.A.
Weekly
"Earth Architecture recieves a warm welcome
from the third world to outer space."- House and Garden
"Khalili is also at work on prefab ceramic
vaults, modular units that can be trucked and linked
together easily. And sometimes his vision goes much,
much further: he's worked with NASA on scenarios in
which the moon's soil could be melted, then, after
molding, fused into structures by concentrated rays of
the sun."- Mother Jones
"A novel 'magma structure' concept presented
by him...proposed melting mounds of lunar soil with
focused sunlight to create a pliable material that could
be sculptured into facilities ...at the NASA symposium,
'Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century.'
"- Aviation Week & Space Tech.
"Khalili's perspective on lunar architecture
provides an interesting and thought-provoking contrast
to 'orthodox' scenarios."- NASA's Lunar Bases and Space
Activities of the 21st Century, editor W.W.Mendell.
"...he draws from thousands of years of
traditional architecture in his effort to build modern,
affordable, sustainable housing..." - RAN/Turner
Foundation - Cut Waste not Trees
"... in Hesperia, the houses were beautiful,
well-insulated, structurally rigid, and cost almost
nothing to build." - Los Angeles Times
