19th May 08 Building
Most of the slides I showed were of building projects I have visited or have been involved with. You can find more information about Rob;s building projects here.
Some of the Principles we looked at and a couple more are:
· Design for Low Energy Use
Solar access, daylighting, insulation
· Minimise new resources
Use second hand materials, use old buildings
· Use whole unprocessed materials first
Timber, stone,earth, clay, natural fibres
· Use low embodied energy materials
Locally sourced, unprocessed, renewable
· Use materials so they can be reused Soft mortars, screws, no glues
· Use materials for a healthy internal environment
Recommended Reading.
Evans, I, Smith, M & Smiley, L. (2002) Hand Sculpted House - a practical and philosophical guide to building a cob cottage. Chelsea Green. Quite simply the best book on natural building, and on the philosophy of ’small is beautiful’ as applied to houses.
Alexander, C. et.al. (1977) A Pattern Language. Oxford University Press. An essential book on design, identifying a number of subtle ‘patterns’ that make buildings either work or not work. A seminal piece of work, one of few books worthy of being called genius.
Magwood, C & Mack, P. (2000) Straw Bale Building - how to plan, design and build with straw. New Society Publishing. Probably the best strawbale building book around.
Clifton-Taylor, A. (1987) The Pattern of English Building (4th edition). Faber and Faber. An amazing book on the vernacular building traditions of the UK. A scholarly yet readable guide to all the elements (stone, timber, cob etc) that made up our architectural heritage.
Day, C. (2003) Consensus Design - socially inclusive process. Architectural Press. A wonderful book which offers an entirely new way of approaching building design, by starting with a detailed reading of the landscape and assessing what the land would ‘want’ to be built. Compassionate architecture at its finest.
Roy, R. (2003) Cordwood Building - state of the art. New Society Publishing. A very thorough guide to cordwood building.
Borer, P & Harris, C. (2000) The Whole House Book. CAT Publications. One of the best overview ‘what is green building’ books.
Kennedy, J., Smith, M. and Wanek, C. eds. (2002). The Art of Natural Building: Design, Construction, Resources. Gabriola Island, BC. New Society Publishers. A very good overview of natural building approaches.
Woolley, T. (2006) Natural Building: A Guide to Materials and Techniques. The Crowood Press. A new and very thorough overview of natural building, in a more UK/Ireland context than many of the other books.
There is a nice article about cob here and a good overview of the Passive House concept here. Kevin McCabe is at www.buildsomethingbeautiful.com.
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