Thursday, August 09, 2007

Low impact


I wanted to leave you with something inspirational this summer before Shedworking takes its annual staff holidays and while Simon Dale's low impact woodland home is not technically a shed or a garden office, it feels like an archetypal shedworking atmosphere. Built in Wales, this is how Simon describes it:
"The house was built with maximum regard for the environment and by reciprocation gives us a unique opportunity to live close to nature. Being your own (have a go) architect is a lot of fun and allows you to create and enjoy something which is part of yourself and the land rather than, at worst, a mass produced box designed for maximum profit and convenience of the construction industry. Building from natural materials does away with producers profits and the cocktail of carcinogenic poisons that fill most modern buildings."
It is dug into the hillside for low visual impact and shelter with stone and mud used for retaining walls and founations. It has an oak frame, straw bale insulation, and lime plaster on the walls. It's a truly fantastic site and you should definitely have a browse around it.


Simon is also involved in the fascinating eco-village Lammas project in Wales. You should also have a look at the Building a home of earth blog here and an article from the Mail on Sunday by Jane Fryer which poses the question, why are the authorities intent on tearing down the most eco-friendly home in Britain?

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