Klara Wengman, 25-years old and an architecture student in Copenhagen, Denmark, spent her summer as an intern with the Natural Building School at Earthaven. Working directly with Paul Caron three days a week on the Village Arts Building project, she says she went through an enormous shift in her understanding of the building process. “At my school, we focus on design. This was an amazing hands-on experience” that, she said, gave her a holistic perspective on the meaning of construction.

Her program for the summer included learning Paul’s peeled, round pole timber framing process, assisting him in designing the unique jig needed for the joinery, learning basic woodworking techniques, and (in her spare time!) thinking about how she might design one of the needed buildings for the Village Center. Klara also wound up on the core team for the Council Hall roof project, which recently planted a fourth of the lower roof in sedums and set up a drip irrigation system to see if this living roof method works.

Easy to love, work with and engage in upbeat conversation, Klara returned to Denmark following a visit to sister ecovillage Dancing Rabbit in Rutledge, Missouri, where she intended to interview a resident architect and see what more she could learn about community building design. We look forward to hearing more about that!