The challenge involves making a habitable dwelling on a budget of just £300.00 using compressed soil bricks manufactured on site, and roof tiles made from recycled rubber tyres.

Sitting alongside the high tech Micro Compact Home www.microcompacthome.com , the £300.00 house raises questions about how we can turn waste into energy, and to what extent the domestic building process can be reclaimed by the ordinary man in the street.

A range of partners will contribute to this exercise. Local developers/construction will provide a suitable sub soil for the brick making sourced by Ramboll Whitbybird. RWB are playing a big part in this project by working with FXB to create wall insulation panels using recycled paper and card board from their Birmingham office. Following their recent amalgamation with the Danish Consultants Ramboll Whitbybird were looking for a responsible method of re using their now out of date branded literature. Incorporating it into the £300.00 house provided the perfect solution whilst at the same time reiterating the company’s’ commitment to sustainability.

The presence of the highly engineered Micro Compact Home at the Festivals site provided a luxurious and sophisticated living environment for visitors to enjoy.

However, it also prompted project curator and artist/ builder, Dave Pollard to wonder what could be achieved on a minimal budget using creative thinking and freely available recycled materials.

The brick making will commence on site on Monday 20^th August and local businesses will be invited to send interested staff members to experience the making of soil rammed bricks in short workshop sessions at the Festival of Extreme Building.

We expect to have the building completed in time for the festivals finale in the last week of September.

For more information visit: http://www.festival-xtremebuilding.org.uk/

Well I have to say it’s amazing what things spring to your mind at the funniest times of the day or night as it’s now 11.55pm.

Maccarinelli has just retained his boxing title – and you may be wondering what this has to do with straw bale houses! I can only tell you what an interesting and varied set of people you all are! Tom – make sure the belt fits properly next time – I should have asked who’s responsible for measuring their waists!!

Anyway at 257 live plods on as it does everywhere else in this world. Thank goodness we live at the top of a very steep road and my apologies to any one of you who may have been affected by the recent downpours! The most effect we have seen is when Alistair went demonstrating on Thursday and I think more clay was washed onto his clothing through his hands than actually went into the moulds. Making hand made bricks of whatever constituent is obviously a summer job – anywhere but England!

Picture by Jo Hallington
Paddy & Banderos are doing absolutely fine and the medication has now stopped – although I cannot say for sure that the reason as to why we had to have them “done” has!!. We’ve booked them in for their summer holidays to coincide with ours to Ireland at the end of August. No doubt we will yet again scour the south west area of Ireland looking for that little bit of land lying on a clay seam that coincides with our dream of being able to be there permanently – Alistair out in the field digging for the lost wealth of Ireland – and me probably in a pub somewhere bemoaning the fact that my fence has still not been erected!

The dividing fence between us and our next door neighbour has been an ongoing project since April 2007 when they decided to remove the brambles in their garden and the whole blooming lot fell down – to the left of us so our responsibility! Alistair had to the end of April to resolve this – but his excuse is I didn’t name the year!!!!! 3 weeks and counting until Ireland looms so he now has no choice – unless he wishes to look for that little bit of Ireland under the sea!!!!]

Just to let you all book it into your diaries - our 2008 project will be a straw clay house in the garden. Not on Mr Brzeski’s proportions of course you understand – we don’t live on a grand estate, however we do have a fairly large back garden and I think it may look rather stunning, and at some pint in the future when we do find our bit of Ireland (albeit in Shropshire) it may well prove to be the selling point of the house. Pig roasting will be optional having met a rather nice gentleman and his family who run pigs through the woods, but the alternative could be some rather nice chicken tikka sticks from the local deli which cook up rather well.

Poland has featured rather heavily in our family since you all returned – black pudding, polish sausage, strawberries and scrambled eggs have become a regular feature at 257 – served separately or all together on some occasions! Have any of you discovered the polish bread which tastes of liquorice? Different!

Our local corner shop has become grateful to Alistair for the request he made of getting in some “Tyski”! It is now stocked as a regular item and sells for £1 a can – and has sold out completely within a few days on more than one occasion - this to the delight of the shop keeper but the absolute dismay of Alistair. He occasionally comes home with some totally incomprehensible sounding cans of stuff which he assures me are drinkable! Could be lighter fluid for all he knows but it keeps him quiet – especially if he drinks enough!

Am glad to hear all the demonstrations have gone down really well and I have been checking on the progress through the website. Even recommended people log on to The Natural House and the responses have been what you’d expect – from the downright appalled who cannot work out where you plug in the washing machine to the more experienced who think it’s a great way to live your life especially when you’d have the land to grow whatever you wanted in your “back garden” – especially if it was south facing!!! Who says either view is correct but what an experience eh! My own view is that clay is really good for your hands and your soul – and forget the washing machine because it’ll only get clogged up with all that mud!

Regards t you all and we’ll speak again soon! Lot.

So the kids would have a better sense of this being a process with results, setting up a figuring of visual conversations between occupants of the space we’re kind of anticipating, and it’s context and construction, and to start to add layers of inscription to the images we’d made in the previous sessions, I thought I’d invite the students to illustrate them using objects we’d collected and coloured chinagraph pencils. It turned out to be quite an effective way of collaborating. Certainly the process of scanning leaves and sycamore pods went down well. I’m into the idea that we’re making a visual space that figures the qualities to be hoped for from the future real construction. Danny told everyone about how he was inspired by the drooping of a willow twig’s leaves, and with that in mind we went out to take more images, collect stuff, and shelter from the chilly rain before hurrying inside to scan. The space that the final piece will hang in school is a light stairwell which looks out onto the garden area. It’s going to look good. Watch this space.

Picture by Jo Hallington

When we explore the roots of art we discover spirit, ritual and relgion. The early paintings and carvings upon rocks and in caves beng interpreted as depiction of the sacred hunt, or as spirits and dreamworlds…. early theatre being the enactment of myth, ceremony, ritual and religious observance… early music being songs of enchantment, cries of bereavement, prayers and praise… early monuments being long barrows, henges, causewayed enclosures, cursuses and megalithic structures. We discover the rich symbolism and cosmology of round dwellings (Ger/Yurt/Tipi/Lodge) governing the placement of objects and movemnet throuh the space and social codes of practice magnifying spirit and conectedness into every moment. We see houses having spirits… a genus locii… we see a careful and sensitive placement of settlement and dwelling place within the landscape through geomancy, feng shui, vatsu vidya, folk lore and sacred geometry.

Picture by Jo Hallington

It is this sensitivity to material, to spirit, to a sense of place, to nature’s way, to traditon and ancestral wisdom upheld before profit and economy that shapes the Hermitage here.

The most appropriate and succinct blend of Architecture and Art being a House of Spirit… the Temple, Shrine, Tabernacle, Gurdwara, Church, Mosque, Grove, Chapel, Lodge, Stupa… the veneers of all the beautiful faiths and follies slip away as the common denomiator of life shines through… this is life… water is life… nature is life…. the environment bonds all of the human kingdom together… environmentalism being the highest form of materialism… joining all races in an ecological responsibility and co-operative return… a multi-faith temple… honouring and nourishing all, rejecting none… the pointed arches of the doorway and windows here do not follow combined gothic principles, but the form of the willow withies, when stuck into the earth and tied at the top… the point of the thatch guiding our consciousness to the heavens…. the house of earth rooting us deep into presence and place…. a marriage of heaven and earth.

Picture by Jo Hallington

The pigments here are blended from earth ochres, charcoal and chalk… I find it difficult to say… “it is done”… “finished”… knowing that I could continually visit for the next year smoothing a wall and neatening some thatch here, refining a window there… a rose motif is painted above the door…. Sun, high summer, scents and secrets… the clay finish upon the walls sealing in the darkened Yew tree earth… a wash of fish oils and egg white could be added for weather proofing… silent contemplation and meditation… the interior smooth and drying…. when dry, a coat of natural paint could be added… on the walls hang physical mnemonics and subtle doorways to a re-emerging knowledge… a miniture besom, a feather brush made of willow and goose feathers, a ‘witch’s ladder’ of wheat straw rope and feathers, a corn doll, a cube of earth, a sun window, a stella window, a moon calender…. a circlet of green willow.

As I left, the house was quickly explored by colourful families, wide eyed children and graceful elders.

There it still stands, emanating and radiating… inspiring the younger generations and growing warm smiles of hope upon the old.

Hermitage with a situation now vacant… a temptation arises to stay a few years… but that would be a distraction in itself from the true work.

And I… I step back into the coracle of service and know the current that brought me to the shores of Compton Verney will guide me again to another…

I finish now with feelings of fulfilment and gratitude.

Work is Worship

Fare well through these changing times

Chris

I wanted to work with students to see if we could use photography to contribute to a brief to commission a classroom/gardening workspace/ multipurpose building there, that would be in keeping with the ethos of what was happening. And make some interesting photographic art to show for it along the way. We looked at and played with various cameras, discussed architecture and the relationship between buildings and people, and looked at different ways of making buildings, and had a good, fun time, which made me less nervous about how it was going to turn out, as I’d been concerned the whole thing might end up seeming very contrived… I don’t think it did, and, between torrential downpours, we got some photos taken and engaged with the space outside, looking at the forms of things that were found out there.

Danny, a lad in the afternoon group, was really keen to take photos, and when we were outside, photographing the shape of a willow branch, likened it to a rooftop from which the rain would drip to water the plants planted around its perimeter. That really made my day. The next workshop is this week.

Eight years ago I was a fishing widow! That is until the day I could smell rotting mackeral upstairs and had been assured by nearest and dearest that he had not caught anything the last time he went fishing - but I could recognise the smell of fish anyway being a pisces!!! He’d left some of his bait festering in the bag - the cats thought they were in heaven!

Anyway 2 weeks before the trip to Poland you could cut the air with a knife at 257 with the anticipation of it all. This was marginally tainted by the fact that 1 week before Al was still unsure if he was going. There was me encouraging him and praying to god at every available minute that the confirmation and tickets would come through in time. I wanted to have the bed and the opportunity to watch crap TV to nyself for a change. My prayers were answered and at 5.00am on Sunday 3rd June 2007 myself and our 9 year old daughter Phoebe enthusiastically waved Daddy off into the taxi. First opportunity for crap TV and guess what was on…………………..COUNTDOWN - 5.30am what an ungodly hour to have Carol Vorderman forced on you!!!!! I decided to go back to bed and catch up on my well earned beauty sleep - not that I need it of course you understand but I’ve had a hard 16 years of late!!!!!

Life merrily went on for the next couple of days until I checked the GP’s (guinea pigs). You see we’d had to have them neutered a couple of weeks beforehand as they were playing(!) not very nicely and no they weren’t fighting, but let’s just say it’s not the kind of behaviour you expect to see from a child’s pets - well not in front of her anyway!

Picture by Lot

Poor Paddy and Banderos had had a increase in the size of their privates due to infection. So off I trailed to the vet with my trusty GP’s in my hands only to find out that I had to self medicate for the next couple of weeks which included administering antibiotics and “massaging” the areas concerned! My work colleagues thought this was rather hilarious and pittied me for the lengths of entertainment I would go to with my husband being away!

Weekly entertainment consisted of (other than the above) The Apprentice, Mary Queen of the Shops (or whatever she calls herself) and occasional blasts of Big Brother - why on earth did they think a house full of women would be entertaining?

Sunday 10th June 2007 - he’s back. Normality resumes at 257 - this time though the smell is of mud laden trousers and rotting socks! Thank goodness he buried his boots somewhere in Poland! First night Al decided to cook (that’s unusual) and we had scrabbled eggs, black pudding, gherkins, tomatoes followed by a warm Tyski! Thank god for The Atkins diet! More smells followed the next morning but I won’t go into those- just keep the bears where they belong! Please speak to Al for an interpretation of this!

A week and a half on I can say it’s been a pleasure hearing time and again about your exploits with Mr Brzeski and thanks for the introduction to Tyski (cold at last) and Cherry Vodka! When can you arrange another trip?? I have an urge that will not go away……………….. and it’s nothing to do with the GP’s.

In case you’re wondering - they are now doing fine - checked them this evening (yes I’m still at it) and am pleased to report that Banderos no longer needs a massage and I think Paddy will be complete in a day or so. But having said that he really likes me these days!

I’m now a brick widow but as you can tell I have encountered other things in my life, talents I wasn’t aware I had! So I do thank Ania et al for this wonderful opportunity! My career prospects have now hit wonderous heights - who else can say they can do what I can!! Answers on a postcard please!

Look forward to meeting you all one day soon and if invited I’m sure Paddy and Banderos would like to meet their fans. Please find attached rather a cute picture of them - this was before I got my hands on them!!!!!!!

And before any of you start thinking I’m stark raving bonkers - you only had to put up with him for a week!!!!

Regards Lot

I have really enjoyed this opportunity to work in an experimental way to create piece of work that I wouldn’t normally produce. I have found that doing a consultation at the start of the project has been really beneficial as it has allowed me time to listen to other people’s opinions and incorporate these into my work.

Picture by: Jo Hallington 

Picture by: Jo Hallington

One of the most interesting things about creating a print is that you never really know what it’s going to look like until you’ve inked it up and run it through the press…so it’s always exciting to run off the first print.

I was really pleased with the results, and particularly like the sea!

Photo by Jo Hallington

The House of Angels and Pins, is a place for the meeting of different realities, a perpetual threshold between the physical and the meta-physical.

Picture by Matt Hawthorn
This liminal space provides the urban dweller with the opportunity to gaze across the Modern City in the presence of angels and ghosts which make up the vast majority of the City’s inhabitants.

The Meetings are unintelligible but this is not the point, the purpose of this space is to provide a witnessing, a place to count the number of angels dancing on the head of one of the three conical pins that puncture the building, with the simple framing devices of a proscenium arch stage which puts the morass of the City in some perspective.

Picture by Matt Hawthorn