Norbert Hufnagl and Carolyn Riege
Earthen Touch Natural Builders, LLC
New Mexico Contractors License #365511
View of Norbert and crew pouring a bond beam (top), adobe walls going up and stick
frame interior in progress, Sedona, Arizona
norbert
bracing a
geodome -
which
when
rebuilt
required
custom
compound
angles for
each cut
About Norbert...
Norbert brings to each project classic German engineering, with an MS in both an
electrical and mechanical engineering. He was born and raised in Germany, and
moved to the U.S. in 1989.
He came to natural building after having worked in tech support and consulting
for motion control systems for 15 years in Germany, Switzerland and the US.
He began living his connection to the earth upon starting and operating a small
organic vegetable farm in Northern New Jersey in 1994 and farmed full time for 6
years.
Through the design of many innovative tools and methods (I.e. miniature
greenhouses for seedling production, low profile field tunnels for season
extension, burlap blanketing for hot-weather germination, low cost cold
storage), he was able to boost the productivity of his 3 acres well beyond
normal standards.
He moved to New Mexico in Spring 2002 and began to support himself with various
building projects and carpentry work in the greater Santa Fe area, using his
combination of skills and experience to help local organic farms upgrade their
greenhouses, seedling production and irrigation systems.
As he migrated toward building construction, a brief exposure to conventional
materials and techniques showed him enough to look for healthier and more
sustainable ways to build. He encouraged the use of natural materials, paints
and finishes wherever possible, from simple garage conversions or decks to the
creation of a studio with radiant floor heat, and solar hot water systems.
His first straw bale home project occurred in Penasco, NM where he was hired for
the electrical and plumbing installation in the summer of 2004. He quickly
shared the role of the lead contractor shortly after the beginning of the project.
He then went on to tackle adobe construction with a project in Sedona, AZ as
lead contractor on a 2500 sq. ft. adobe home in which he was the only contractor
utilized, with the exception of one, for the entire project.
Aspects of a the Sedona project
he handled include:
Revising Building Plans
Site Clearing & Layout
Form Work for Foundation
Pour & Finish Concrete Mono-pour foundation
9 ft tall Adobe Walls on the first floor
Complete Plumbing, Electrical & Gas, Heating and Ventilation Installation
Floor, Roof & Wall Framing
Rough & Finish carpentry, Window & Door Installation
Acrylic Latex Membrane Roofing
Natural Plasters (interior & exterior)
with earth, clay and lime
Norbert's ability to tackle any aspect of building with precision and to apply
an efficient systems approach has saved his clients much time and provided cost
savings on many projects.
carolyn putting
final touches
on an earthen plaster
About Carolyn...
Following a career in art direction and graphic design which began in Chicago, Carolyn discovered natural building in 1993 after visiting her first cob home in Oregon. She set out to learn as much about natural building as she could, so began volunteering on projects and attending gatherings where she could meet and work with many pioneers in the field.
She has an advertising art degree from the Central Academy of Art in Cincinnati, and continued her education in Marketing and Communications at Northwestern University, IL while working as an art director. She won second place at the Chicago International Film Festival with a film short she directed and produced. Later she worked on film and video crews in Chicago in variety of rolls including A.D., prop-master, set design and art director.
After working on her first project with her teachers, Ianto Evans and Linda
Smiley of Cob Cottage Company, her passion for natural methods lead her to help create
other cob structures and to teach a cob basics class at Ecoversity in Santa Fe,
NM. From there she progressed to straw bale construction, then
light-straw clay, pumice block and finally adobe. While learning the techniques of
natural building, she discovered her affinity for earthen plasters which allow
her to merge many of her skills as an artist and designer.
Beginning in 2002 she helped form the World Hands Project in Santa Fe, NM
(www.worldhandsproject.org) which
works to provide better living solutions worldwide - much of it
occurring in Anapra, Mexico. While working with WHP, she served as project manager, administrator,
and managed
the marketing and website. While she no longer is a member of WHP, Carolyn still
travels to Anapra a few times a year to offer a "mother's nuturing day" for
women with children with special needs.
Her role with Earthen Touch is to work in tandem with her partner Norbert,
providing an artistic eye to the detail work involved with each project. One of
her strengths include mixing custom colors for interior and exterior finished
earthen and lime plasters and adobe floors. She also excels in designing and
installing custom tile work, be it a custom bathtub space, tiled wall mural,
detailing for a bathroom mirror or any area needing a special touch.
She is happy to serve as a consultant for clients, stepping in to give creative input on color and design wherever needed.
We have, as of summer 2006, begun work on our own hybrid home made of straw-bale, cob, adobe and light-straw clay with passive solar design which is completely off-the-grid - given we live deep in the woods surrounded by National Forest and 7 miles from city services (link to current photos). We have 18+ beautiful acres in which we homesteaded from raw terrain. The challenges of creating a home in such a remote space has been as amazing as rewarding, we love it here! We fully understand the constraints on time and budget which can affect each building project as we currently live them each day.
