PROJECT DESCRIPTION
There are a number of ways of describing this project - it could be described practically, philosophically, politically or architecturally. This website is meant to be used by a variety of people and I will examine the project in different ways. I imagine it will mean different things to different audiences.
A Practical Description
This is an extremely economic house to build. I found myself without a lot of money and urgently requiring somewhere to live. I had experience of self-building and many years as an architect of building homes for people who had tight budgets and high aspirations as to what a house can be. I sat down and designed for myself what was, as small and simple a three bedroom house as seemed possible. I put a lot of energy into making the main living space feel as generous as possible, while making the other spaces compact and cosy.
I used my experience of modular building methods learnt from contemporary building practice, from a wonderful self-building pioneer Walter Segal, and from the rural vernacular tradition of building your house instead of going and buying it. By being extremely disciplined and by paring everything back to the basics and accepting very basic finishes I arrived at a point that I had a design which I was confident that I could build for €25,000. I estimated that it would take about seven weeks to build, which I reckoned to do over a period of time - weekends, evenings and holidays with the help and goodwill of friends, neighbours and family.
In the end I had the house complete over a period of two years, I was on site for a total of fifty days during that period, and kept within my budget. I have lived in it for a period of a year now, through all the seasons and it has proved a very easy and pleasant house to live in. I was to fit a wood burning stove which I hadn’t yet done as winter set in. Due to the high insulation levels, the 1.5 Kilowatt electric heater (that I had installed as a backup) heated the entire house. I could not pretend that it is easy to build your own house, it is a hard slog and a lot of pressure – for two years it felt like I was either working, building or feeling guilty about not building! However it is really empowering to achieve something like this in your life and you are left with a house without enormous debts.
A Philosophical Description
The notion of the Commons in a society is important to me. It is primarily understood by people in the form of common land, where a whole community shared grazing rights. Through enclosure, space for common land has been eroded overtime and it is no longer part of our agricultural system. Other aspects of commons have been eroded too, knowledge held in common is not valued anymore in a society of experts. We fetishise individual genius and place competition as the societal driving force.
The vernacular tradition shared commonly the knowledge of how to build a house. Thus the design of houses developed over time became the hand of many, incrementally improving. Developing over centuries, houses were therefore part of an evolutionary model, not a consumer article produced by a genius. Folk music shares this model and if we look to the past our homes, entertainment and food - the most important things in life, were not part a consumer culture. These were things we shared and we held in common.
The purpose of this website is to place the knowledge of how to build a house once more in ‘the commons’. I hope that people can use it as a resource to help them build, and to use the blog as a place to add their experiences so that a new vernacular tradition can take root again. Use it, enjoy it, respect it.
A few hints
There are a number of ways of describing this project - it could be described practically, philosophically, politically or architecturally. This website is meant to be used by a variety of people and I will examine the project in different ways. I imagine it will mean different things to different audiences.
A Practical Description
This is an extremely economic house to build. I found myself without a lot of money and urgently requiring somewhere to live. I had experience of self-building and many years as an architect of building homes for people who had tight budgets and high aspirations as to what a house can be. I sat down and designed for myself what was, as small and simple a three bedroom house as seemed possible. I put a lot of energy into making the main living space feel as generous as possible, while making the other spaces compact and cosy.
I used my experience of modular building methods learnt from contemporary building practice, from a wonderful self-building pioneer Walter Segal, and from the rural vernacular tradition of building your house instead of going and buying it. By being extremely disciplined and by paring everything back to the basics and accepting very basic finishes I arrived at a point that I had a design which I was confident that I could build for €25,000. I estimated that it would take about seven weeks to build, which I reckoned to do over a period of time - weekends, evenings and holidays with the help and goodwill of friends, neighbours and family.
In the end I had the house complete over a period of two years, I was on site for a total of fifty days during that period, and kept within my budget. I have lived in it for a period of a year now, through all the seasons and it has proved a very easy and pleasant house to live in. I was to fit a wood burning stove which I hadn’t yet done as winter set in. Due to the high insulation levels, the 1.5 Kilowatt electric heater (that I had installed as a backup) heated the entire house. I could not pretend that it is easy to build your own house, it is a hard slog and a lot of pressure – for two years it felt like I was either working, building or feeling guilty about not building! However it is really empowering to achieve something like this in your life and you are left with a house without enormous debts.
A Philosophical Description
The notion of the Commons in a society is important to me. It is primarily understood by people in the form of common land, where a whole community shared grazing rights. Through enclosure, space for common land has been eroded overtime and it is no longer part of our agricultural system. Other aspects of commons have been eroded too, knowledge held in common is not valued anymore in a society of experts. We fetishise individual genius and place competition as the societal driving force.
The vernacular tradition shared commonly the knowledge of how to build a house. Thus the design of houses developed over time became the hand of many, incrementally improving. Developing over centuries, houses were therefore part of an evolutionary model, not a consumer article produced by a genius. Folk music shares this model and if we look to the past our homes, entertainment and food - the most important things in life, were not part a consumer culture. These were things we shared and we held in common.
The purpose of this website is to place the knowledge of how to build a house once more in ‘the commons’. I hope that people can use it as a resource to help them build, and to use the blog as a place to add their experiences so that a new vernacular tradition can take root again. Use it, enjoy it, respect it.
A few hints
- Find an architect you like, who you can work with on the project. This is essential. You need advice on planning permission, the building regulations and health and safety regulation.
- Make a balsawood model of it to completely understand things. If you do this, contact me here and we can upload some photographs for viewing.
- The step by step instructions both describe what to do and lead you to a way of thinking and a methodology of building.
- Seek out other people that have built their own homes. ‘Inspirational Homes Leitrim’ would be a good resource in this regard.
- Be realistic about your own skills. When I was 15 I did the Group Cert in woodwork, and I am a fairly practical person. In this project my neighbour who was a carpenter helped a good bit and I learnt a lot from him. Be realistic, but don’t underestimate yourself.