A Low Impact Woodland Home - Hobbit Style

Credit to Simon Dale published under a creative commons license 

Taking care of the environment has always been an interest of mine, especially when it comes to the different options we have with the housing of the future. To put it bluntly humans are very wasteful when it comes to buildings and we often use materials wastefully and the buildings are often designed for looks and not functionality. Before you jump on me here, im not saying houses dont have to look cool - but they must do it while being as self sufficient and with maximum regard for the environment. For example this little gem I stumbled upon here.

This is a house built in Wales by Simon Dale and his father in law. It was completed in four months and cost an estimated  £3000 and 1000 to 1500 man hours. Not a bad price if you ask me. Built from natural materials the house was designed with its surroundings and environment in mind - there is a really good 'Why we did it' section here.

Simon points out on his site that he is not a carpenter and claims this building is accessible to anyone. The main tools use were a chainsaw, hammer and chisel. Over all the house represents one part of a low-impact or permaculture approach to life. This sort of life is about living in harmony with both the natural world and ourselves, doing things simply and using appropriate levels of technology. These sort of low cost, natural buildings have a place not only in their own sustainability, but also in their potential to provide affordable housing which allows people access to land and the opportunity to lead more simple, sustainable lives. Simon is also keen to share this lifestyle with others and had made the plans for the house available here.

Some key points of the design and construction of the house:

    * Dug into hillside for low visual impact and shelter
    * Stone and mud from diggings used for retaining walls, foundations etc.
    * Frame of oak thinnings (spare wood) from surrounding woodland
    * Reciprocal roof rafters are structurally and aesthaetically fantastic and very easy to do
    * Straw bales in floor, walls and roof for super-insulation and easy building
    * Plastic sheet and mud/turf roof for low impact and ease
    * Lime plaster on walls is breathable and low energy to manufacture (compared to cement)
    * Reclaimed (scrap) wood for floors and fittings
    * Woodburner for heating - renewable and locally plentiful
    * Flue goes through big stone/plaster lump to retain and slowly release heat
    * Fridge is cooled by air coming underground through foundations
    * Skylight in roof lets in natural feeling light
    * Solar panels for lighting, music and computing
    * Water by gravity from nearby spring
    * Compost toilet
    * Roof water collects in pond for garden etc.

If you are interested in learning more about the house click through to Simon site all about it here.  Otherwise carry on reading for an interview with Simon on organic architecture.

1. How long have you been living in an organic house?
5 years ago

2. Was it a conscious decision to move to an organic house, what were your influences in the first place?
Yes, but to be natural (nontoxic/low energy/eco), close to nature and self built were our first priorities. Being built mostly from imagination, optimism and rubbish,the process is naturally organic. Being organic in terms of forms seems to come naturally given the above. Also my aesthetic is generally soft and curved, coming mostly from the natural world. Between making my first and second houses I read Christopher Day who explains well the benefits of organic forms in architecture for our minds and soul. This seemed to vindicate my instincts.

3. What are, for you, the big differences between living in a traditional straight house to an organic one?
Suits my aesthetic. Feels gentle. Feels to me more like being part of the(natural) world,less like a commodity in a box. Rectangular rooms do feel box-like and slightly claustrophobic in comparison.

4. Do you think that living in an organic house affected your way of being, your personality, and if so, in which way?
I think we overuse the cause and effect model. More usually it is two (or an infinite number actually) things co-evolving or mutually related. This is certainly true here, there is a change, but lifestyle, values, and material situation change together rather than one leading another. In my case at least this is true. If you moved a random person (from a town flat say) to an organic natural house in the middle of nature it would affect them. They would probably fight it or love it.

5. How do people react to the fact that you live in an organic house?
Nearly everyone is interested. In the whole lifestyle mostly although the house does seem to have some kind of innate appeal. I think it touches something common, a romantic idea of some fantasy past/alternative. Everyone says it is a hobbit house, they all love the lord of the rings at the moment.I think Tolkien draws the hobbits as the naïve or innocent representation of humans in a wholesome natural state. People instictively relate to this, especially in the context of modernity.

6. Is it a subject that raises discussion? … living in an organic house?
It's handy for a bit of suprising small talk, although explaining our lives can be difficult. Suggesting positive alternatives to the standard route often raising some uncomfortable feelings. Mostly these feelings are of an implied criticism of the way others lead their lives, in terms of ecological responsibility and the following of ones own dreams. These are both hard things to approach for all of us with lots of barriers from our societal conditioning and our own accumulated pains. I find Joanna Macy is very good at showing us ways to take our frustration at these barriers and turn it into positive action for ourselves and the world. I would make no claim that what we are doing is any better than anything else. I'd only say that this is where we are currently up to and this is what is working for us. If any of it can provide an inspiration for others to follow the path of what feels right for them then hooray!

7. Would it be realistic to think that one day the majority of people will live or want to live in an organic house? What do you believe would be the consequences? It is right and natural that different people have different aesthetics and I'm sure there will always be those who prefer straight lines to organic curves. However the dominance of linear forms comes largely from the aesthetic of the modernist movement and the world of mass production. I think we are moving beyond this now, both in our philosophy and the practicalities of our world. The age of cheap energy may well becoming to an end, as we respond to both environmental imperatives and dwindling supplies of oil. I think and hope that this will lead to more small scale, low energy solutions to meeting our real needs. This should mean an increase in individually produced homes of natural and local materials. This in turn means more opportunities for creative, non-linear and organic designs.

8. Does living in an organic house have any inconveniences?
It does make it tricky to integrate cast off furniture. We don't have any flat walls and not much level floor! Luckily we're not that much into IKEA stuff anyway. By the way, Hundertwasser (a famous architect) was keen to avoid flat floors because he thought it was unnatural for us. I was pleased to follow his recommendations and simultaneously avoid the trouble of leveling the floor.

9. Do your furniture and objects enter in the organic design?
Ideally, in terms of aesthetics, they would all be integrated, from the surrounding environment,through the shell of the building and on to the furniture, fittings, objects and people that inhabit the space. Also I would love to know the hands that made every object in my life.

10. Why do you think that there are two separate movements going on: the eco/biological architecture and the organic architecture? Maybe it is again about the industry. I am glad that we are seeing a increase in ecological constuction even in mainstream building. Still though I see this as being very much tied up with the convenience of mass production and hence linear forms. As for organic architecture, we don't see much of it around and I think that most people just think that Gaudi (another architect) has a trademark on anything with a curve. It's probably just not cost-effective on the scale of industrialised construction unless there is lots of cash and passion involved which is a rare mix.

11. Wouldn’t it make sense to integrate them?
When building is done in the way that I am talking about, what I'd call low-impact building, it's done on the ground by the person whose building it is, who is the architect and builder, who is working with respect for nature around and inside themselves. Then I think the process and result will be organic in every way and ecological. There would be no separation.

12. How do you explain the relation between organic architecture and a more natural way of living?
The attempt to find a synergy with nature is then the approach that we are using to design systems for living. These systems include buildings, food production, waste and water systems and much more. When we are working with rather than against nature, the rest of nature works with us and things become easy. This is Permaculture.