Abaká Itîbo.
The house of life.

A 21-day immersion in carbon-negative regenerative dwelling. The form is a cluster of hand-cast hempcrete domes, Indigenous in geometry and Kiva-adjacent in spirit, refined for the Caribbean tropics. Hempcrete walls. Timber ring beams. Volcanic clay and lime finishing the skin.

Workshopiii. of vi.

Circle10 to 30 July

Seats12 in the circle

TuitionFrom $5,200

A Vincentian master craftswoman in her late forties on a Layher aluminum scaffold mid-tamp of fresh hempcrete into plywood formwork shutters wrapped around the curved greenheart timber rib frame of a 32-foot sculptural cocoon-shaped dwelling on Saint Vincent at late golden hour: refined navy cotton tunic under a tan canvas-and-leather work apron with hand-inlaid wood marquetry panel, contemporary leather-strap watch, modern leather work gloves, a heavy hardwood hempcrete tamper in her hands; her apprentice at the base lifting a modern PVC mortar pan of fresh hempcrete from a cordless paddle mixer; the cocoon's timber rib frame visible at the upper portion; a finished satellite cocoon glowing warm through its open threshold at right.

A senior Vincentian KWAJI:YÄ K'NÖGÉ master builder in his late fifties at the open-air planning platform at the elevated edge of the active cocoon cluster build at late golden hour: locs with grey threading, salt-and-pepper beard, dark olive cotton work shirt with sleeves rolled, charcoal canvas work pants, reading glasses on a leather cord, contemporary leather-strap watch, an architect's pencil over a large architectural elevation drawing of the cocoon dwelling unfurled across a trestle drafting table with a topographic site plan beneath and a tablet showing a 3D CAD model at the far edge; behind him, cocoons at varied stages of construction with Layher aluminum scaffolding and the build cohort visible at work, mature breadfruit canopy framing the platform.

The master builders

A guild, not a workshop.

The lead instructors of Abaká Itîbo are master builders of the KWAJI:YÄ K'NÖGÉ Nation, trained over decades in cast-hempcrete dome construction, mortise-and-tenon hardwood ring framing, hand-troweled clay and lime finishing, and the sacred geometry our ancestors gave the dwelling.

By week three, your hands will mix and cast hempcrete by feel, set a timber ring beam without metal where the geometry permits, trowel a lime-and-clay skin, and read a dome's structural logic from its plans.

The promise

A dwelling that breathes with the land.

By the third week you will have helped raise a guest dome that will host future fellows: a timber ring beam pegged into stone, a hempcrete shell hand-cast around curved formwork, a hand-troweled volcanic clay skin sealed in lime. The dwelling carries your name into the threshold. This is what we mean by covenant.

Hempcrete leads the curriculum because it is the most regenerative wall available to us: it locks carbon into the structure for the life of the building, it tolerates the tropical humidity without rotting or moulding, it resists fire and termites without chemistry, and it can be cast by hand on site by the cohort itself. The dome geometry, drawn from the Indigenous Caribbean reading of Kiva form, lets the hempcrete carry its own weight.

Hands-on building in tropical heat. We send a preparation guide and packing list on confirmation. Reasonable physical health is necessary.

The finished cocoon guest dwelling on the KWAJI:YÄ K'NÖGÉ ancestral land of Saint Vincent at late golden hour: the open arched threshold framed in finished greenheart timber with the timber ring beam pegged into stone visible at the threshold's lower edge with wooden pegs in the joint, a hand-inlaid wood marquetry lintel above the threshold inscribed with a fellow's name in greenheart-on-mahogany contrast, the curved hempcrete shell with hand-troweled volcanic clay-and-lime skin, warm 2700K interior glow through the threshold, mature breadfruit canopy framing the cocoon, a soft glimpse of a satellite cocoon at the deep edge.

The four bodies of a dwelling

Hempcrete. Timber. Clay and lime. Geometry.

Hempcrete is the body of the wall and the dome. Timber is the ring that carries it. Clay and lime are the breathing skin. Geometry is the grammar that organises the three.

Material i. The primary.The body

Hempcrete.
The body and the dome.

Hemp hurds, hydraulic lime, water. Cast by hand into curved formwork around a timber ring. Carbon-negative, breathable, pest-proof, fire-resistant, mould-resistant. The shell that locks atmospheric carbon into the dwelling for centuries.

Material iiThe ring

Timber.
The ring.

Greenheart and mahogany, milled by hand, mortise-and-tenon joinery, pegged. The ring beam that carries the dome and the threshold posts that anchor the entry.

Material iiiThe skin

Clay and lime.
The skin.

Hand-troweled volcanic clay base, lime wash for the breathing exterior, beeswax-and-tallow seal for the thresholds. The finish that lets the dwelling weather.

Material ivThe grammar

Geometry.
The grammar.

The proportions our ancestors gave a dwelling so it would breathe with the land it stands on. The Caribbean reading of Kiva geometry that organises hempcrete, timber, clay, and lime into a single regenerative whole.

Three weeks

Foundations. Truth. Return.

Week 1

Foundations.

Arrival ceremony. Indigenous housing forms across the Caribbean and the Kiva geometry that shapes our dome. Site preparation and stone foundations. Timber ring and threshold-beam joinery. Building the curved formwork that gives the dome its line.

Week 2

Walking in truth.

Hempcrete week. Mixing hemp hurds with hydraulic lime and water. Hand-casting the dome shell into the curved formwork. Curing. The science of a carbon-negative wall: hygroscopy, thermal mass, biogenic carbon storage. Storykeeping and language alongside.

Week 3

Covenant of return.

Striking the formwork. Hand-troweled volcanic clay base. Lime washing the breathing exterior. Hardware fitting: brass, bone, hand-forged iron. Visioning circle. Closing ceremony. Covenant signing: your name carved into the threshold of the dwelling you helped build.

The covenant-carving moment at Fountain Villa. Three weeks, one threshold. Stone foundation, timber ring, hempcrete shell, hand-troweled clay-and-lime skin, hand-forged hardware, the cohort's covenant glyph chiseled into the inlaid lintel by the fellow's own hand.

Carved into the threshold

Your name on the house.

The closing rite carves each fellow's nameplate into the dome's threshold beam. You leave with the building drawings, a hardwood off-cut from the build, and a continuing right to stay in the chapter dome for one week per year.