This workshop is part of Fox Maple's
Indigenous Peoples Community Building Initiative

Fox Maple School of Traditional Building began developing its training program with indigenous peoples on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the Fall of 2000. In the interim, the program has expanded to include projects in the mountains of Costa Rica and Kauai, Hawaii. Future projects in Ecuador and Nicaragua are currently under study.

The principal goal of the Indigenous Peoples Community Building Initiative (IPCBI), is to develop a sustainable building infrastructure within indigenous communities utilizing local natural materials and traditional systems and methods of construction. Initially, we go into a community and analyze the natural resource base, traditional building patterns, traditional cultural life-style, current life patterns and economic conditions. Through this we are able to develop a training program that uniquely embraces the communities environmental, cultural and architectural identity.

After completing a thorough survey, we then organize a formal workshop in which a community building is built for and with the people in the community. This includes active participation of from 8 to 12 community members (though a much greater number take part in the process), coupled with 8 to 10 students from outside the community. Primary funding for the building project is generated directly through the tuition paid by outside students. There is no cost to the local community. A unique, multi-cultural educational exchange results, training people in not only the craft of timber framing, but also a variety of natural and traditional building approaches that readily uses their local resources. Through the process a needed structure that embraces these cultural elements evolves. Through this, a viable alternative building model evolves that can then be expanded within the greater community. Success breeds success.

Frame raising in the Wainiha Valley, November 2002

Kauai 2004 Workshop Project
April 5-10, 2004

We will return to Kauai in April 2004 to solidify our community based educational program that began in Fall 2001.

The April 2004 workshop will take place on the north shore of Kauai at the Haraguchi Rice Mill in Hanalei. The project will be a traditional Japanese yagura, or rice bird sentry tower. Rice was a major crop on Kauai for more than a hundred years, and the mainstay of Hanalei's economy until 1961. Rice mills were once common in Hawaii, but today, the Haraguchi Rice Mill is the only one that remains. The restored mill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is still part of the W.T. Haraguchi Farm, which now grows taro instead of rice. The original mill was built in the 1920's by the grandfather of Rodney Haraguchi, current president of the Rice Mill nonprofit organization. The taro fields of Hanalei are a local landmark, and today the mill and farmlands serve as an educational and cultural center that teaches local school children and community resource groups the history and traditions of farming on Kauai. In the old days every rice farm had a yagura tower. The yagura was used as a watchtower to protect the crop from flocks of rice birds (nutmeg manikins). A flock could wipe out a crop very rapidly, so from the platform of the yagura a sentry would sit and watch, usually a young kid, and pull on long strips of cloth or rope that were laced throughout the field. The chords had bells or empty cans tied to them that made noise to scare the birds away.

In this workshop we will cut and erect an 18 foot high yagura frame adjoining the taro fields. The frame will be cut from timber harvested on the island. Joinery will be a mixture of eastern and western traditions, combining round log scribe fit and square timbers. We will also be scribe fitting timbers to stone. Fine joinery will result.

If you have ever wanted to visit our 50th state and integrate with the real Hawaiian culture, and learn timber framing, this workshop is a great opportunity. The project will include both square timber and round log joinery in an eclectic mix of eastern and western timber framing traditions.

What's Included

This is a 6 day course and will include both intro and round log scribe timber frame joinery. All meals are included. Camping in the beautiful Wainiha Valley during workshop dates is also included. Full bathing facilities (and a river, waterfalls and more) are also available.

Travel to Kauai

Flights should be booked to Lihue, the major city on Kauai. The site is approximately 1 hour drive north of Lihue on route 56. United and American Airlines both fly direct to Lihue from San Francisco and LA. Pick up and return to the airport in Lihue is included with sufficient notice.

If you have any questions or would like more information about this workshop, please contact us via email

Click here to see pics from the 2001 Kauai workshop.

Click here to see pics from the 2002 Kauai workshop.

Tuition $975. Limited to 12 students. Registration.

Click below to download IPCBI newsletter in pdf format
Indigenous Peoples Community Building Initiative Newsletter