Since we decided we'd think about building an extension on the house I have been reading all I can find about architecture, eco-sensitive materials, high energy efficiency windows, environmentally friendly insulation and all the rest of it. My head is spinning at this stage! But something that keeps cropping up is the organic house. We are all familiar by now with the environmentally friendly house, they cost a lot to build but with top spec materials often no heating is necessary and the savings come with little or no heating bills over a lifetime. Generally the manufactured costly but effective materials are said to be eco-friendly as a consequence.
So what is an organic house? Take a look at this because a picture can say what a thousand words could never convey (well not my words anyway, but somebody this poetic I'm sure wouldn't have the slightest problem).
Low Impact Woodland Home
by Simon Dale
Before you read on, what is your initial reaction? Fantastic or ridiculous?
And the difference between this and a conventional environmentally friendly house is? It's designed by the occupants, not an architect. It's built by the occupants, not a building company. It's constructed using local building materials. eg. staw bale, cob (thats mud, from the ground, your ground hopefully, more specifically clay), timber. People of any age can do it, 4 to 400. Power tools required? Hands and feet, until you get to the roofing. Due to all these factors the energy and resources required to construct one is minimal. Their creation has little or no impact on the environment. They are cheap to build and can be constructed without a mortgage. Yes thats right, no mortgage. There are little or no right angles in the construction which an awful lot of people, myself included, find incredibly satisfying, comforting, healing, relaxing, I've read that grown men have been known to cry when they first visit a place like this (and probably women too, but grown women crying is less of a newsflash, I even cry watching Neighbours for gods sake!) ... perhaps it's because there are no right angles in nature that the organic house appeals to us on even the purest primitive levels. Hands up who didn't secretly wish that they lived in a Hobbit house when they first saw Lord of the Rings?
The question is, is that space for our family going to be a garden feature ... a tiny structure in which I or other family members can escape to for a bit of 'me' time ... or is it to be incorporated into the extension ... or is it to be a new home ... or perhaps its not for us at all? I wonder what the view of the local planning authority is towards these low impact dwellings? We are sleeping on it, probably for a few years knowing us. Please tell me its a mad hat plan.
In a month or so the spring sowings will begin and the polytunnel will keep me safe from any more of these wild and dreamy tangents! The silly season will officially be over, or will it.
