Earthen Touch Natural Builders

Norbert Hufnagl and Carolyn Riege

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 and Layout
Form Work for Foundation
Pour and Finish Concrete Mono-pour foundation
9 ft tall Adobe Walls on the first floor
Complete Plumbing, Electrical and Gas, Heating and

Ventilation Installation
Floor, Roof and Wall Framing
Rough and 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.

Our Own Home

We have as of summer 2006 begun work on our own hybrid home made of straw bale, cob and light straw clay with passive solar design which is completely off the grid (click for  current photos). We live on 18 beautiful acres in which we homesteaded from raw terrain in which to begin the process of created our own dream eco-home. We fully understand the constraints on time and budget which can affect each project.

above: norbert  with crew pouring a  bond beam

carolyn putting some final touches on the earthen plaster on

 the fireplace

About Carolyn...

Following a 15 year 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 co-wrote, directed and produced and went on to later work 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 cob project with her teachers, Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley of Cob Cottage Company in Oregon, her passion for natural methods lead her to help create 4  more cob structures. From there she progressed  to  straw bale construction where she has helped build another 8 structures and counting. While learning the various techniques of natural building, she discovered her passion for earthen plasters which allowed 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 travels to areas of the world in need of better living solutions. The goal of the organization is to work with natural methods to help create homes and systems with communities to best serve their needs. Most of the work she has been involved in has taken her t o Anapra, Mexico. As a founding member of WHP she served as project manager,  administrator,  also managing the marketing and website.

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. She recently has worked on interior and exterior scratch and finished plastering, tile work both inside and out and served to advise clients on both color and design aspects of the projects. Additional projects have allowed her to explore the design and use of stone work, adobe wall repair and beautification, to name a few additional aspects of her work.

She serves as the design consultant for clients when needed, stepping in to give a special touch to help enhance the project.

adobe and framing in progress

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