Campus Scene

1Each year, three students call the Buck House home. The top floor features recycled bamboo floors, thermal curtains, and walls painted with a concoction of flour, clay, and natural pigment.

CCAT’s partial answer to food refrigeration is Humboldt’s cool air, which flows through an open vent of a “cold box.” The “hot box,” on the other hand, is an insulated kitchen cabinet drawer that retains enough heat to cook rice (just add hot water). Warm water is courtesy of two solar-thermal cells on the roof connected to the water heater.

2The bottom floor serves as a public space for CCAT workshops and classes. There’s also a seed-swapping station, a library, and, for those who prefer sun-dried socks, a clothes rack.

3Equipped with solar panels, pedal-power bicycle generators, and other devices, the MEOW (Mobile Energy On Wheels) demonstration trailer brings CCAT’s eco-education to the campus.

4A rainwater catchment system makes perfect sense in Humboldt. Rain from the roof flows into PVC pipes to a cistern where it’s filtered and stored in a tank.

5Cob—a mixture of sand, clay, and straw—is the cornerstone of the bench, tool shed, and oven.

6CCAT’s greenhouse is made more efficient from the veggies planted in the ground to maximize growing space. The back wall is also insulated with invasive beach grass.

7The cob terrace teaching garden grows plants that are native to different regions, including Black Emmer Wheat—an ancient grain that was cultivated in Mesopotamia.

8The lawn garden is, as its name implies, a lawn converted into 10 edible garden beds—among the 35 that are on CCAT grounds.

9A giant worm-filled bin turns yard waste and food scraps into compost used to fertilize CCAT gardens.

10Modeled after the traditional Mongolian structure, has a plywood body topped by shingles made of upcycled cans. Glass Coca-Cola bottles embedded into the roof filter sunlight and cast a natural, ethereal glow inside.

Learn more ccat.humboldt.edu