Composting Urinals!

This is great!

The big bale of straw may look more appropriate for a farm yard than a music festival, but Faltazi outfits each bale with a plastic funnel and receptacle system, with urinals spaced comfortably enough around the hay. The funnel channels the incoming urine away from its donor’s sneakers and pant legs, and into the center of the straw bale, where the nitrogen begins to mesh with the carbon of the hay. Around six to twelve months later, the decomposition process will have meshed the two together enough to create a rich mound of compostable humus.

L’Uritonnoir comes as a flat, easily shippable polypropylene sheet, that folds and is threaded around the straw bale to create the pop-up urinal. The funnels are fed into the bale’s center, and there you have it- a composting urinal. There’s even a “higher end” version that comes in stainless steel.

Not only does L’Uritonnoir provide a faster place to pee, but it also brings awareness to festival goers of the simplicity of upcycling and composting. After a “dry run” this season at French metal festival “Hellfest”, Faltazi wants to include planters thriving with pee-compost the next year, as a shining example of festival goers’ donations.

Crit Day!

Pin Up for the Final Crit

This Wednesday was the report hand in and the presentation for all the individual projects in Stage 5 MARch at Kent School of Architecture.  

The day went really well and there was some great feedback from the tutors.  Everyone had some great individual work, and it was good to see what everyone else had been up to.

The Story So Far....

A short video of where we are up to. . . . 

Day 2 on site

Luckily a very beautiful Kentish day!

The willow weaved plinth wall was lined with waste plastic sheet from the polytunnels. The voids were then filled with bark from the pruning and lined again with another sheet of polythene to act as DPM.

Initial stakes are inserted and the first bales are laid.

Staking down each bale as it is laid for rigidity and to keep the walls in line.

Cross bracing door opening put into place to keep the bales tight and upright.

Losing light on the third course of bales. Time to call it a day

Day 1 on site

Started on site today with the willow weave plinth wall.

Site all marked out and leveled, ready to go!

weaving the willow in a twining fashion, to get the tightest weave possible for filling.

End of day 1. 

 Early start tomorrow to get the rest of the willow cut and weaved, ready for the straw bales.

Willow Weaving

For the natural plinth wall, I wish to make the border out of willow weave. 

When this is done properly it looks very neat and beautiful 

I had my first attempt this Christmas....

Little more practice needed.

For the plinth wall we need 150mm of tightly packed willow weave, which I can waterproof and build the bales directly onto.

Using some of the cuttings we had another go at a required height.

This was assisted by some local children.

Even though the snow has halted anything starting on site, I can construct all the elements under cover ready for the quick erection.

Straw Bale Success

http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/year-anniversary-straw-eco-homes-Martin-near/story-17930234-detail/story.html

Crit Day

Crit Sheet

Presentation day - Due to weather conditions I did not have much physical work to show on site. 

We presented to our tutors, and guests for 20 minutes, in powerpoint form. 

The feedback was all positive, (the sheet above) .

I had various models to show at 1:50 how elements would go together 

Tyre foundations with plinth wall.

Possible adaptation into mortise and tenon joints

willow weaved plinth wall.

Main points from the crit: write-up wise, get my facts and sources figured out.

build the best possible for the site, and then have write up and theory behind the adaptations.

My Ideas on a Natural Plinth Wall

Mortise and Tenon Timber frame Building

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YooKTtVH2bk

Triangulating Bales

Currently Straw bale buildings can only be applied to the level of the eaves, and cannot fill Gable ends due to their shape. 

But I am sure this is possible? 

I am going to test this theory on a couple of my own bales.  

Being able to build the bales up into gable ends will not only create a consistent building material, but will also make sure the insulation and air tightness is consistent throughout the wall, leaving no gaps.

Wish me luck.....

Baling Needles and how to Split Bales

To make Bales certain sizes, to fit around openings and in the bale courses, it is vitally important to retain the tension and tightness in the twine, holding the straw together.

Baling needles are not available to purchase in the UK, and very hard to find in the USA, the only way is to make your own.
Here I have found some existing designs, two which are used in the construction industry currently, and the third, a custom made Needle used in the baling workshop I attended under Mark Saich.

The needles take two new pieces of twine through the bale, at the level of the original string. 

These are my notes and easy to read and follow guide on how to split straw bales.

Home Grown Holiday Homes!

Check out this designer, who has built Straw Bale holiday homes in Yorkshire!

The Journey.

Introduction

The goal of this journey is to Create a Home Grown House, as carbon neutral and as low-carbon footprint as possible.  I want to build with what I have on the site, in a scale and manner which would require no or minimal machinery input, and to prove to myself and to others, that building sustainably and intuitively doesn’t have to cost the earth, but it can be built using it.

Since an essay on Bill Dunsters’ BedZed in my 1^st year of Undergraduate studies, I have been highly interested in all forms of sustainable and zero-carbon design.

By the year 2016, all homes should be zero carbon, an ambitious plan set out by the UK government.  People may think this is completely unobtainable.  But it is very much within reach. 

When I first started initially thinking about zero carbon and low energy housing, I felt that it was all just a sales gimmick, the new trend in construction.  I felt like clients were getting fooled into thinking that if they bought an air-source heat pump or installed rainwater collectors then they would be single-handedly combating climate change.

But when all was put into practice, I realised that the key is off-setting.  It is all good and well building with rammed earth to be low-carbon, but how does that earth get there? If it is off-site then you need trucks to deliver it, and if it is on-site then you need JCBs to dig it up.   This energy used in transportation needs to then be off-set by your building. 

I still find it comical seeing some products available on the market labelled carbon neutral, made in China! Think of the carbon footprint which that product has already created before it has even reached the building site.
That is one of the disadvantages of technology, it needs to be powered, transported and prepared.

All we need is shelter, but the modern world has us having bespoke kitchens and bathrooms, safe electrics and plumbing, pvc worktops and laminate doors. Not exactly your natural home.  Natural homes in modern terms I think relates more to the materials used, especially in the finishes, lots of wood, beautiful earth and lime plasters, wood ceilings and trims, all of course incorporated tastefully in a code approved structure.

There are many instances now where people are taking building their own, ideal homes into their own hands, shows like Grand Designs and self builders are adapting to their surroundings to become more self-sufficient, something which I think all homes should try a hand at.