The Natural House - A project in Sustainable Building for Architecture Week 2007

The Festival of Xtreme Building on site from June 20th – 24th June 2007

The Natural House is an art and architecture project introducing Clay Build Technique (CBT) to the UK.

CBT is modern technique of building houses/buildings using primary materials such as, clay, straw and water. This is sustainable and carbon neutral technique.

Introduction
This innovative building technique is healthy, ecological, energy saving and cheap. In our northern hemisphere climate the most appropriate materials are clay mixed with straw. Clay Build Technique only relies on the vast available amounts of this natural resource.

The tradition of using clay to build is as old as our culture and can be traced back to the Neolithic era, approximately 5500 years BC. One half of the world’s population, approximately 3 billion people on six continents, lives or works in buildings constructed of earth.

After the Second World War clay houses were successfully built in Poland. In the sixties, these houses still remained the only examples in Europe of building houses out of so called ‘light clay’ – clay mixed with straw. However, during the sixties, a fascination with concrete led to a rejection of clay buildings. Clay fell out of favour and was tainted as being a material for poor people’s houses.

Following the study of natural building concepts, Polish architect Wojciech Brzeski has developed a modern technique based on the old tradition of building houses out of non-fired clay bricks.

This project has created the opportunity for people to get involved and learn about this technique in the following ways:

• A group of eight midlands based practitioners will be sponsored to visit Poland to learn the techniques of building with clay from Polish architect Wojciech Brzeski.

• Workshops in three different locations, open to school children and the general public will enable people to gain hands on experience in building clay bricks that will go towards building a structure in phase two of the project next year. The workshops will be led by the practitioners trained in Poland.

• Five artists will be commissioned to create new works exploring the materials used in clay building and/or the themes of sustainability and community. These commissions will take place in five locations, Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Shropshire and Warwickshire.

The Festival of Xtreme Building, Corner of Moor St Queensway and Priory Queensway, Birmingham B4 7LN

Public Open Days: 20,21,23,24 June, 10am – 4pm

School Day 22nd June (to be booked in advance), 10am –2pm

For more information about the project please visit www.thenaturalhouse.co.uk, Email: thenaturalhouse@gmail.com or call one of The Natural House team on 07939 863 797.