Natural building projects
Having drawn inspiration from many sources, including Lloyd Kahn, Christopher Alexander, Christopher Day, and Simon Dale, we have been involved in a number of natural building projects:
- Our own classroom, which is a timber frame with strawbale infill, strawbale insulated green roof, earth plaster and larch cladding.
- Reciprocal frame roundhouse barn with loadbearing strawbale walls and green roof, here at Lackan.
- Our own earth bonded stone cottage renovation, using natural materials such as hemp-lime plaster, sheepswool insulation and natural paints.
- Birch cottage renovation here on site, experimenting with a wide range of materials – woodfibre insulation, wood-wool board, lime insulation
- A roundhouse with reciprocal roof and composting toilets at the Quarries Farm in Bangor.
- Pallet porch build using entirely reclaimed materials here at Lackan
- Truck refit using reclaimed and natural materials.
- A short spell volunteering on the Community Hub at Lammas Ecovillage in Pembrokeshire.
The ethos is simple – use natural materials where possible, with low embodied energy; and use materials sourced as locally as possible – on site where at all possible. Typically we use straw, timber and clay, and upcycled pallets are a favourite ingredient in many projects.