Living Architecture Centre

Midsummer Sheltermaker 2010

Peter Cowman — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 08:08:29 +0000

Midsummer Seltermaker 2010

‘A Century of Challenges: Peak Oil, the Financial Crisis, and how to prepare for what’s to come’

Have a listen to this talk. The speaker is Nicole Foss, an energy industry consultant, a financial analyst and a former editor of The Oil Drum Canada who now blogs under the name Stoneleigh at The Automatic Earth.

Her analysis of the collapse of global Ponzi finance and peak oil as a “perfect storm” of converging challenges that threaten to accelerate the changes we face and have dire consequences for unprepared individuals and communities.

She presented the talk to a Transition gathering in Devon – and shocked most people, with many trying to find a way to say she was wrong.

I’ve listen to the talk with pleasure – and relief! She tells it like it really is! The whole house of cards is so precarious that the only reliable assets are those residing inside our selves. Time to get back to sheltermaking!

Malaysian Vernacular

Irish Summer Courses & Workshops

DIY Eco-Building

In this innovative DIY Eco-Building Course students discover the secrets of eco-building by learning how to create a small sustainable shelter – the EconoSpace.

The EconoSpace is a 25sqm (6X4.2m) building which can be made from a variety of natural materials at very low cost in the average back garden – and free of planning permission!

EconoSpaces can perform a variety of useful functions:

Art Studio; Playhouse; Home Office; Garden Building; Eco Pod; Storage Room; Music Room; Meditation Space; Bath House; Computer Room Site Office; Writers Retreat; Love Shack; Dacha; Craft Room; Nature Temple; Sanctuary; Dog House; Food Cellar; Garden Kitchen; Eco Shed

Any help with publicity would be most welcome. Print out the poster

(2 to an A4 page) and put them up where you can …

DOWNLOAD POSTER

COURSE DATES IN CO. LEITRIM

Saturday August 7th

Monday August 23rd

Saturday September 4th

Sunday September 12th

Dates don’t suit? Then you need the EconoSpaceMaking DVD. This dynamic combination of text, drawings, photograph and video information will guide you through the design and construction process. Based on working examples and real life situations the DVD includes Working Drawings for 10sqm & 25sqm EconoSpaces. Students can also participate in a dedicated online Forum where they can exchange ideas and information. Go to livingarchitecturecentre.com for further details.

Special deals for Groups, Transition Towns, etc.
A Consultancy service is also available.

LIVE Course – €85 incl. lunch
LIVE Course, lunch & EconoSpaceMaking DVD €150
EconoSpaceMaking DVD – Special Online Offer €90

BOOKING

Phone: 076 602 6046 & 086 10 22400

eMail: sheltermaker at gmail.com

Online: HERE

Grow Food Make Shelter

Practical self-sufficiency skills for the modern age

Theory and hands-on learning

€150 (€120 conc.) incl. vegetarian lunch

ENQUIRIES

Growing food and making affordable shelter are the keys to living a sustainable life.
Establishing food security and freedom from mortgage debt can be easier than one might think.
This introductory workshop will focus on what people can do in the average backyard – or apartment balcony – with very little money to spend but a commitment to changing one’s life for one’s own sake and for the sake of the planet.
Theory and practice are presented side by side in a lively mix of talk, film, images and models in which Peter & Alanna share their considerable experience of growing food and making shelter on tight budgets and with an unfailing commitment to sustainable principles.
As well as dealing with the physical aspects of sustainable living, the workshop will also address the hidden aspects of change – particularly, understanding the nature of the resistances one normally encounteres and how to overcome these.
Participants will learn how to produce delicious food in small spaces using the principles of permaculture garden design, and, how to design and construct small affordable sustainable buildings following living architecture principles. With an emphasis is on positive action, these essential skills will provide participants with a solid foundation on which to construct a sustainable future for themselves.

BOOKING: €50pp with balance payable on weekend

‘The Spirit of Place’

A presentation by geomancer & author Alanna Moore* & Irish eco-architect Peter Cowman

Saturday July 24th
7pm – 8.30pm
Rossnowlagh, Co. Donegal

‘The Spirit of Place’ illustrates how people can discover the intangible dimensions of place, both in the natural as well as the built environment.
By becoming more sensitive to the spirit of place we can nurture a more harmonious environment and life, where magic can happen!

€10 euros including free Living Architecture DVD
Bookings: flowingtide@hotmail.com

*Australian geomancer Alanna Moore is a specialist in surveying the subtle energies of place. She advises people on selecting safe and healthy locations to live, work and grow food. If homes are located on geopathic stress zones or across ‘fairy pathways’ there can be dire consequences she warns. Alanna, who has Irish heritage, is familiar with the ancient geomantic traditions of the Australian Aboriginals. She finds many parallels with the indigenous culture of Ireland where people’s deep connection with the land also makes them highly aware and respectful of the invisible forces present in the landscape. Also a permaculture farmer and teacher, she spends summers here with her Irish husband Peter Cowman. In 2010 Alanna will be conducting just three workshops in Ireland – in Leitrim & Tipperary.

The EconoSpace Project

The sleeping giant awakes. After its winter slumber, the EconoSpace has dried out completely and is now ready for plastering. Already the inherent warmth of the clay-straw can be felt inside the building.

Work is now underway to carry on where we left off last September. RTE have even expressed a wish to come back and do some more filming!

You can follow ongoing work at Architecture LIVE

Next Sheltermaker – Lughnasadh

Bealtaine 2010 Sheltermaker

Peter Cowman — Thu, 06 May 2010 03:59:07 +0000

Bealtaine 2010 Sheltermaker

Below is a photo essay describing the present state of the 10sqm EconoSpace which is in progress in central Victoria, Australia.

Current expenditure is running at $3850 which is about €2750. Money still needs to be spent but costs should remain below $5000 or, €3500.

Forthcoming Irish LIVE EconoSpaceMaking Courses:

Saturday August 7th
Monday August 23rd
Saturday September 4th
Sunday September 12th

Booking & Details – HERE

Or use contact button above or, phone 076 6026046

GROW FOOD MAKE SHELTER

with Alanna Moore* & Peter Cowman
Practical self-sufficiency skills for the modern age
Theory and hands-on learning
€150 incl. vegetarian lunch
Saturday/Sunday July 17/18th
Growing food and making affordable shelter are the keys to living a sustainable life.
Establishing food security and freedom from mortgage debt can be easier than one might think.
This workshop will focus on what people can do in the average backyard – or apartment balcony – with very little money to spend but a commitment to changing one’s life for one’s own sake and for the sake of the planet.

Booking & Details – HERE

Or use contact button above or, phone 076 6026046

GEOMANCY WEEKEND

with Alanna Moore*
August 28th – 29th
€120 euros (incl. lunch)
Discover the subtle dimensions of the landscape through Energy Dowsing and meditational attunement. Find energy pathways and nature spirits. Appreciate geomythology and how to make a sacred site in your own backyard with stone arrangements and Towers of Power.
For further details email: info@geomantica.com

*Alanna Moore is a permaculture farmer, teacher and the author of seven books, a master dowser and has taught the ancient art of dowsing around Australasia, Europe and Asia for over 25 years. Visit geomantica.com for further info.

THE 10 SQUARE METRE ECONOSPACE

This EconoSpace is being rested now for the southern winter. Architecture LIVE will continue documenting progress on the 25sqm EconoSpace in Ireland.

Architecture LIVE 17

Peter Cowman — Thu, 06 May 2010 03:02:09 +0000

Architecture LIVE 17

The arrival of the timber and roof covering is preceded by a short ritual on the evening of the new moon. Permission to proceed with the closing in of the frame is quietly sought. I circumnavigate the walls, light incense, stand within the open structure and watch the last of the light drain from the sky.

The roofing work proceeds unhampered. The space suddenly becomes more intimate and focussed. The walls appear more substantial, the windows more alert. We stand around like curious children or sit with cups of tea and wonder where all this is leading.

Our destination is quickly revealed. It is right where we are, in the Here & Now. We redouble our efforts. Nothing seems too hard and progress is substantial.

The enclosure offered by the roof places the focus on the very space we occupy. We bathe in this delight.

James Henderson’s workshop allows us to focus on the plastering. The clay displays a whole new side of itself lending the interior a new character. The lowering sun probes this for answers.

Suddenly however, it is time to close this sweet EconoSpace to journey to its companion in Ireland.

There, more plastering and character await revelation.

Architecture LIVE 16

Equinox Sheltermaker ’10

Peter Cowman — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:27:39 +0000

Seymour Alternative Farming Expo 2010

Owner-Builder Magazine at the Seymour Expo

Presenting a talk on Invisible Architecture

Rob Roy, originator of the cordwood building method, at the Seymour Expo.

Rob has written extensively on the subject of house design and construction and runs the Earthwood Building School in upstate New York

DOWNLOAD ECONOSPACEMAKING POSTER

LIVE EconoSpacemaking Workshop

Wednesday April 7th

DETAILS & BOOKING HERE

LEARN HOW TO DESIGN & BUILD A SMALL, GREEN, LOW-IMPACT, SUSTAINABLE SHELTER THAT YOU CAN MAKE IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD ON A SHOESTRING BUDGET WITHOUT A PERMIT

With the roof on and the walling almost complete the mini-EconoSpace has a big feel to it. The numbers are impressive too – around $3500 spent so far on materials. This translates into less than €2500.

With the dedicated help of Joshua, Rhym, Pie & Alanna work is charging ahead at full steam and plastering is about to begin. Keep up to date with developments at Architecture LIVE

The generous roof overhang protects the building interior from excessive solar gain during the sumnmer. At this time of the year – the equinox – the roof shadow is daily retreating upwards allowing solar energy to be gathered through the windows. This heat is stored in the internal sand-clay plasterwork.

Irish LIVE EconoSpacemaking

Workshops Summer 2010

Sunday 27th June The Organic Centre, Co. Leitrim

Saturday August 7th Drumsna, Co. Leitrim

Monday August 23rd Drumsna, Co. Leitrim

Saturday September 4th Drumsna, Co. Leitrim

Sunday September 12th Drumsna, Co. Leitrim

€90 including vegetarian lunch

Booking & Further Details 076 602 6046

These workshops offer a unique learning experience. Even if you never intend to build anything understanding the role which shelter plays in our lives will give you a vital insight into the true dynamics of sustainability.

For those seeking a viable way of dis-engaging from the madness of the consumer life attending one of these workshops will provide you with the practical tools with which to plan your escape.

Even those already involved in the natural building sector will have much to gain and much to contribute.

If you are interested in self-development or are fascinated by the inner workings of life you will really enjoy this experience.

The positive buzz at these workshops is palpable – because they explain what sustainability actually is!

No previous experience of building required!

‘Good fun, good company and good learning!

Can’t make a LIVE Course?

Then you need the EconoSpaceMaking DVD

Watch this amazing feat!

Thanks to Maireid Sullivan for that jewel

Saturday March 27th

Building Biology

10am – 4.30pm

Daylesford Neighbourhood Centre, Daylesford, VIC

Make your home a healthy place to live and avoid ‘sick building syndrome.

Learn how to assess your home with geo-biologist Alanna Moore an architect Peter Cowman.

Fee: $80 $65 concession

More info/bookings – info@dnc.com.au

Phone 5348 3569

Bring along a plan/sketch of your home

Certificate issued

April 10-14th

Earth Plastering Intensive

With James Henderson of Henderson Clayworks

DETAILS HERE

Saturday/Sunday April 24 – 25th

Discover Vastu ShastraThe Indian art of harmony of place

With Anthony Ashworth

Early Bird Booking up to April 1st – $220 HERE

FURTHER DETAILS HERE

DOWNLOAD ARTICLE ON VASTU

Guerillas Planting in the Midst …

Sat/Sun July 17/18th

GROW FOOD MAKE SHELTER

With Alanna Moore & Peter Cowman

Drumsna, Co. Leitrim, Ireland

Growing food and making affordable shelter are the keys to living a sustainable life.

Establishing food security and freedom from mortgage debt can be easier than one might think.

This workshop will focus on what people can do in the average backyard – or apartment balcony – with very little money to spend but a commitment to changing one’s life for one’s own sake and for the sake of the planet.

DETAILS HERE

Booking 076 602 6046

Saturday July 24th

An Introduction to Sustainable House Design & Construction

The Organic Centre, Rossinver, Co. Leitrim

Architecture LIVE 16

Peter Cowman — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 05:00:56 +0000

Architecture LIVE 16

As walls are fleshed out my new self begins to solidify. Dreams throw up questions which wakefulness struggles to answer: I have prepared some beautiful food, to be served on beautiful plates but my timing is completely off. When the food is ready the people are not. When the people are ready the plates cannot be found.

I interpret this dream as an allegory for the present state of affairs. I constantly anticipate some dread event descending and slicing my world in half. Slowly I begin to recognise this as a remnant of the past, a vestige of Ireland that stubbornly clings to me acting like a brake on forward progress.

This is an invitation for the heavens to open and for rain to descend in a constant stream. Barracked inside I can only stare down at the mini-EconoSpace and hope for the best. Without a roof the clay-straw walls are completely vulnerable. This eating away of substance and self is counter-productive. I am dissolving again, returning to my constituent parts, cast into the blender of life to be whisked to a froth.

When there is a lull in the storm, I can scrutinise the damage. Incredible! Hardly any effects at all! The clay has shrugged off the moisture leaving the walls intact. I am relieved and impressed at the same time. The experience however makes me cautious so I protect what I can and order roofing materials.

Putting a roof on the building is a big step in my reconstruction. I am blessed with the arrival of Joshua on the scene. He is helping with the walling and has committed to staying until the roof is on. Along with Rhym, who has been a constant helper in the clay-straw department, plenty of forward progress is now promised.

This is an act of faith, a commitment to my unfolding, an acceptance of the shape that will emerge from this reconstruction of self.

‘Clay-Straw Knowing’ is the only way I can describe what is happening. This emerges from the actuality of making. The sense of touch adjudicates the consistency of the clay slip and the readiness of the clay-straw mix for installation. Everyone who comes to help discovers this knowing within minutes.

A further revelation is that there are no mistakes to be made because this material is completely forgiving. Even when a wall bulges because the lightweight shutter is too flimsy the result is spectacular! We jokingly write the architectural specification for this: Walls shall bulge and be voluptuous to the entire satisfaction of the Architect …

Architecture LIVE 17

Architecture LIVE 15

Peter Cowman — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:03:10 +0000

Architecture LIVE 15

The mini-EconoSpace lures me with promises whenever I stray close to its lair. Each time I am coaxed a little closer, touch and feel the empty shell as if it might give me a clear answer.

I lay in a temporary floor. Oil the parched cladding boards. Contemplate the future through the empty frame of a recycled window.

I am being taken apart cell by cell, each laid carefully away to be available for reassembly. I watch in fascination as I crack and dissolve. The world is a different place from this perspective. My emotions have come to the fore as if making up for the lack or corpuscular identity. Old hurts and embarassments parade by.

What remains of me is strung tight but out of tune. A new moon eases some of this tension, offers hope of improvement. Cracking and dissolving I might be but a new me is simultaneously being formed.

I stumble through the days like a newborn. Slowly it becomes clear that I am in the Here & Now. This is something of a shock. For so long this destination was my objective. Now that I have arrived I hardly know what to do.

This is where the future is constructed. Foundations laid. Ideas sketched out. Plans formulated. Life breathed into a matrix of hope and fear.

Each moment is ripe with possibility. I surrender to this excitement, glimpse my reflection in each thought and action, allow the thrill of the unknown to surround me.

In a moment of clarity I realise something simple – that I can change myself merely by thinking about it. While, somewhere in myself, I already knew this, understanding the implications is new.

We have leap-frogged evolution and can by-pass its slow rate of change. This goes to the very heart of consciousness offering us the potential to remake ourselves in whatever form we desire.

The future is made in the Here & Now. What we eat. What we do. What we say. How we say it.

The EconoSpace mirrors my reconstruction. A naked frame fleshed with clay and straw. Gaping holes to be filled with perseverance. Empty windows offering clear vistas into the evolving future.

Architecture LIVE 16

Architecture LIVE 14

Apology

Peter Cowman — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:12:53 +0000

NATIONWIDE NO SHOW

9pm Wednesday February 10th 2010

A big apology to all of you who had expected to see the EconoSpace on Nationwide on Wednesday evening.

The broadcaster has now informed me – after the fact – that the piece was pulled at the last minute ‘because it didn’t sit well with the other pieces’.

At the moment I can only take a cynical view of this.

Broadcasting a show about mortgage-free shelter is just not politic at this point in time is my guess.

Nationwide

Peter Cowman — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:13:56 +0000

THE ECONOSPACE ON NATIONWIDE

If you liked what you saw on the Nationwide programme and would like to try something like that for yourself check out the EconoSpaceMaking DVD.

DOWNLOAD FREE ECONOSPACEMAKING DVD SAMPLER pdf

Learn how to design and build a small, green, low-impact sustainable shelter – that you can be made in the average backyard without planning permission!

WATCH THE ECONOSPACEMAKING DVD INTERNET LAUNCH

ECONOSPACEMAKING DVD

€120

SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER

SAVE 25%

€90 postage paid

Imbolc Sheltermaker 2010

Peter Cowman — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:25:27 +0000

Imbolc – Cross Quarter Day

Imbolc (Imbolg) has been celebrated since ancient times. It is a Cross Quarter Day, midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, it can fall between the 2nd & 7th of February. In 2010 it falls on the 3rd of February. The other Cross Quarter Days are Beltane (early May), Lughnasadh (early August) and Samhain (early November). Together with the Equinoxes and Solstices the Cross Quarter Days mark the eight significant solar points of the year. Sheltermaker is published to coincide with the Cross Quarter Days.

ECONOSPACE NATIONWIDE

WEDNESDAY

FEBRUARY 10th

AT 7pm on RTE1

The Nationwide programme documents students attending a weekend course in mortgage-free living at the Living Architecture Centre.

Starting out from the Community Resource Centre in Drumsna the programme follows the students to Ardlougher where they get hands-on with the building process – mixing clay-slip, making timber components and learning how to create a debt-free future.

The star of the show is the charming timber frame with its clay-straw infill. This is the first of three conjoined buildings to be constructed on the three-quarter acre site. This offers a great degree of flexibility in dealing with the uncertainty that is becoming an all too familiar characteristic of modern life.

The building featured on Nationwide is based on the EconoSpace and on Living Architecture principles as set out in the Living Architecture Course

ECONOSPACEMAKING

Learn how to design and build a small, green, low-impact sustainable shelter – that can be made in the average backyard without planning permission or a building permit!

LIVE ECONOSPACEMAKING COURSE DATES

Can’t make a LIVE Course?

Then you need the EconoSpaceMaking DVD

DOWNLOAD ECONOSPACEMAKING DVD SAMPLER

EconoSpaceMaking DVD Special Offer

ARCHITECTURE LIVE UPDATE

LAC THEME FOR 2010

FOOD & SHELTER

ARTICLE ON LIVING ARCHITECTURE

“People think architecture is a thing; it is not a thing, it is a process that allows you to appraise your life.”

With these opening words journalist Seamus McGoldrick begins his exploration of Living Architecture.

It’s all here. The Truth About Mortgages. Reclaiming Your Time & Space. Suffering Existential Angst. Architecture As Experience. The EconoSpace Concept. Playing House. Time Is Money.

“The potential of the architecture not yet understood.”

From a long interview with Peter Cowman, sheltermaker.

by Seamus McGoldrick

DOWNLOAD HERE

ARCHITECTURE 5¢

Michael Hanson for The New York Times

BARGAIN BASEMENT John Morefield is one of thousands of unemployed designers who are reinventing themselves. Last year, he put up a booth at a farmers’ market in Seattle, advertising his skills for a nickel, and ended up earning more than $50,000 in commissions.

THE NO MONEY MAN

Jon Henley spends the day in Bath with Mark Boyle, who last year decided to stop spending money … on anything … at all … ever. And guess what? He’s doing rather well for himself.

FORTHCOMING COURSES & EVENTS

Saturday February 6th

EconoSpace

‘Building Sustainable, Affordable Shelters’

Presentation by Peter Cowman

3.30 – 4.20pm

Neighbourhood House, 47 Forest St., Woodend, VIC

PART OF THE MACEDON RANGES SUSTAINABILITY GROUP

SUSTAINABLE LIVING FESTIVAL

Festival Entry: Members free, Single $5, Family $8

Sat/Sun February 13/14th

EconoSpaceMaking

Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia

LEARN HOW TO DESIGN & BUILD A SMALL, GREEN, LOW-IMPACT, SUSTAINABLE SHELTER THAT YOU CAN MAKE IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD WITHOUT A PERMIT

COURSE FEE: $150 Couples $250

Can’t make a weekend course?

1-day intensive EconoSpaceMaking Courses on Saturday March 13th and Wednesday April 7th

BOOKING & FURTHER DETAILS

Sunday February 21st

Invisible Architecture Presentation

11.30am

Exploring the hidden dimensions of sustainable house design

By invitation of Owner Builder Magazine

Seymour Alternative Farming Expo 2010 (Vic) – Building Seminar Programme

April 10-14th

Earth Plastering Intensive

Castlemaine, VIC

With James Henderson of Henderson Clayworks

A five day intensive course covering the basic skills and techniques of
earthen plastering.

Saturday/Sunday April 24 – 25th

Discover Vastu Shastra

The Indian art of harmony of place

Castlemaine, VIC

DOWNLOAD POSTER

With Anthony Ashworth

Anthony Ashworth is considered to be the Southern Hemispheres foremost Vastu Shastra expert, he is an international speaker teacher and a building designer and Vastu Shastra and Feng Shui consultant. Director of Chrysalis Dwelling Natural Building Design and director of the School of Sacred Place, see www.schoolofsacredplace.com

Irish EconoSpaceMaking Courses

Sunday 27th June The Organic Centre, Co. Leitrim

Saturday August 7th Drumsna, Co. Leitrim

Monday August 23rd Drumsna, Co. Leitrim

Saturday September 4th Drumsna, Co. Leitrim

Sunday September 12th Drumsna, Co. Leitrim

FOR BOOKING & ENQUIRIES CONTACT THE LAC

August 28 – 29th

Divining Earth Spirit Weekend

with Australian geomancer and author Alanna Moore

Drumsna, Co. Leitrim

This will be the only opportunity in Ireland in 2010-11 for people to discover the world of subtle Earth energies by dowsing and get to meet the spirits of place at a field trip
with Australia’s most well known geomancer

Alanna Moore is a master dowser, a founder of the New South Wales Dowsing Society (Sydney, Australia) in 1984 and author of seven books.
She has discovered many highly energetic sites around Co. Leitrim, which the group will explore on the Sunday field trip (by car pooling).
People new to dowsing are welcome to attend and even experienced dowsers will be fascinated by Alanna’s simple but effective techniques to ‘lift the veils’ to the subtle dimensions of landscape, the energies and consciousness imbued in nature.
The Saturday programme will be an introduction to these techniques, which Alanna has been teaching around Australasia, Asia and Europe over the last 25 years.
Alanna’s books have been highly acclaimed and they can be seen at pythonpress.com. Her latest book ‘Sensitive Permaculture – cultivating the way of the sacred Earth’ is about the gardening and agricultural applications of dowsing, and energetic awareness of nature and it is available from Amazon UK.

FOR ENQUIRIES & BOOKINGS 076 602 6046

FURTHER COURSE INFORMATION AVAILABLE HERE

Next Sheltermaker: Equinox

Food & Shelter 2

Peter Cowman — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:36:44 +0000

Food & Shelter 2

The Solar Oven

Meet Big Maggie.

She may not be much to look at but Big Maggie is a wonder.

Running on solar power alone Big Maggie will cook stews, potatoes, rice, scones or whatever else you normally use precious fossil fuel to cook in your conventional oven.

Maggie is from a humble background. Cardboard from the street. Tinfoil. Paste. Wool from Alanna’s llamas. A discarded window. A few scraps of wood.

Maggie’s is made up of two cardboard boxes, one inside the other, with a layer of llama wool separating them.

The recycled window sits on top of the boxes.

To use – heat up the food on the regular stove then place it in the oven at mid-morning.

The addition of a reflector will speed up the cooking.

Results? By evening, delicious solar cooked food.

Solar ovens are one way that you can connect into the vital world of Food & Shelter.

Food & Shelter, along with water, are the pillars of the human survival mechanism.

If we can provide ourselves with these essentials without compromising our commitment to sustainable principles we can begin to decouple from The Market which can only provide these at incredible cost in monetary, psychological and environmental terms.

Warning: Don’t be fooled by expensive imitations!

More to follow …

Food & Shelter 1

Peter Cowman — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:14:03 +0000

Food & Shelter 1

James offered to build a clay oven here. I have wanted one of these for a while.

The whole procedure was incredibly fast. First, I made a sturdy timber base. Then, the oven was built on top of this in just a couple of days.

Working with the clay and fire was pure joy. The feel of the moist earth was exciting. I remembered playing this intently as a child. Care-free. Judgment-free. Later, when the oven was fired up to dry it out, magic happened. The night receded into the background and a sense of ease descended around the oven.

I had not expected such a strong experience. It was similar to working with the clay-straw – it engendered a sense of knowing. This is what I am after on my Food & Shelter quest. An awakening of inner knowing. Masanobu Fukuoka in ‘The One Straw Revolution’ writes about this in respect of growing food. Nature wants us to survive. Knowledge of how to do this is in our genes. Growing food and sheltermaking and are very similar in this regard.

If we know how to provide ourselves with food and shelter where does that leave us? In a perfect place from which to view the modern world it seems. Surprisingly, this comes as something of a shock to most people. It is no easy thing to see the world so clearly.

The struggle to accept this state of affairs is played out in day to day life. Firing up the clay oven for the first time was a burning of the past. The new beginning which emerged from this is as yet vague and slumberous. I will now tease this into its fullness, open myself to its revelations.

Next, an odd thing happened – the gas bottle ran out! There was nothing for it but to crank up the clay oven to cook dinner! Roast veggie, mini-pizza and lots of fun. Alleluia! We are underway!

Flames.

Woodsmoke.

The great outdoors.

Life.

More to follow …

Architecture LIVE 14

Peter Cowman — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:30:18 +0000

Architecture LIVE 14

I am landed. Re-oriented. Half exhausted from keeping up with the pace of events.

As soon as I hit the ground it was down to work on the EconoSpaceMaking DVD. There was more to this than was apparent at the outset.

In the end the project took on a life of its own, delving into the heart of things in no uncertain way. This was reassuring as it clarified many of the ideas that I had being juggling with for a long time.

With the master disc completed an odd silence ensued. This held many questions. What now? What new challenge could I grasp and wrestle with?

Almost noon at midsummer – note how the roof rafters cast a long shadow across the face of the building. This overhang will protect the building from too much solar gain.

The sad face of the 10sqm EconoSpace gave me an immediate answer! Neglected for six months, the frame stood like a grumpy bear newly awoken from hibernation. I found this out the hard way, stumbling around like a drunk on the open floor structure and almost impaling myself on a loose four-by-two.

The challenge now offered by this frame is pure EconoSpaceMaking. It asks as many questions as it purports to answer.

What is my purpose?
Where is all this leading?

This interogatory chorus is audible above the clamor of practical questions which also challenge me.

How is the roof going to be completed?
Where is the money going to come from?
And the time?

My life is held within the threads of this self-questioning, made visible in the half-made frame. I am mute in response. I try deep breathing and cleaning my desk, but to no useful purpose. Everything leads back to the same place. But a handful of weeks since I left the Irish EconoSpace to hibernate for winter, I gaze upon the face of the Australian EconoSpace at mid-summer. I suspect this to be a rack which will encourage the truth.

Linseed oil is ordered. Clay sourced. The workshop re-opened. In contrast to the desk-bound nature of compiling the EconoSpaceMaking DVD – where amazing thing happen on the click of a mouse – the sheltermaking world is an uphill struggle where a large amount of physical effort oftentimes produce no apparant result whatsoever! In many ways this is the real challenge of sheltermaking – breaking through to the place where things become clearer and more relaxed. This is what Time does, when allowed to express its natural rhythm. I struggle to accept this even when I know it to be true.

The first objective in the building programme is to lay down a temporary floor. This will allow work on the roof and walls to get underway. This will encourage me to articulate my intentions for the space and for my life. I am excited and hesitant at this prospect.

The building of a clay oven offers some diversion from the immediacy of EconoSpaceMaking. Handling the clay gave me lots of reassurance that all will be well on the physical front. It is just a matter of plunging in. It is the ‘life’ issues which now challenge me the most.

What is my purpose?
Where is all this leading?
What is the making of this EconoSpace telling me about my self?

From this perspective suddenly Ireland is a tiny place, half a world away. I have detatached from the EconoSpaces there and after drifting across the planet I am attaching to this EconoSpace in the Here & Now.

Here & Now is where the future begins.
Here & Now is the mirror in which we see ourselves most clearly.

I am putting down roots. In some ways I am afraid to corroborate this reality, so I hesitate, prevaricade, roam the Internet like a lost dog. Clean my desk again.

Architecture LIVE 15

Architecture LIVE 13

Peter Cowman — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:38:14 +0000

Architecture LIVE 13

After a crazy month of sheltermaking, including a LIVE EconoSpaceMaking Course and a visit from RTE1 Nationwide, the Irish EconoSpace is bundled up against the northern winter for the duration of my time in Australia.

The silver wings of ‘St. Arthur’ fly me across Europe to the threshold of new adventures.

Lost in the hushed confines of Frankfurt International Airport, I contemplate this future as documented in The International Herald Tribune.

We feast on bread and cheese chased with a crisp courgette plucked from the garden this morning. This is our connection to the past, to the silent EconoSpace now shielded from the worst the winter weather might bring to the Irish northwest.

My focus is now turning to central Victoria where the ‘baby’ EconSpace awaits my return. I plan to fill this with clay straw and love. As the gravity of the Irish EconoSpace slackens its antopidean mate strengthens its hold.

My impending return to Australia vigourously stimulates my interest. I look forward to reconnection with the look and feel of the earth, with the unabashed good humour of the people, with the dreaming lore of the natives. I want to surrender to this allure, to allow it carry me to a place from where I might return renewed to my own dreaming land.

Architecture LIVE 14

Architecture LIVE 12

Mid-Summer-Winter Sheltermaker 09

Peter Cowman — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:14:37 +0000

Mid-Summer-Winter Sheltermaker

COPOUT15

Should this not read: COPOUT15 ?

For anyone hoping for collective sanity from world leaders, Copenhagen has been a disappointment.

It is clearly now up to people to set their own trajectories into the future.

Stepping outside the system has never been more inviting.

Establishing a degree of control over one’s needs for food and shelter is pivotal to the success of this.

Joining forces with like-minded people is also essential.

A new decade of the twenty first century awaits our choices.

We cannot rely on political leaders to make these for us.

We must declare our own Accord – mutual support in the quest to provide ourselves with healthy food and nourishing shelter, free of institutional debt and in harmony with the natural world.

2010 AT THE LIVING ARCHITECTURE CENTRE

2009 was the Year of The EconoSpace. Much progress has been made as a result, with 10sqm and 25sqm EconoSpaces being developed. The real breakthrough in this work was been the marrying of the peter-post frame to the clay-straw infill.

The generous support of Sligo-Leitrim VEC Adult Education Programme has also made possible the compilation and publication of the EconoSpaceMaking DVD. This details how you can create a habitable building on a shoestring in your own back yard – with no planning permission required.

Creating a small building such as an EconoSpace is the first step in relearning the sheltermaking skills essential to survival – and to meaningful personal development. This last part is the payback for the sweat involved!

2010 at the Living Architecture Centre will concentrate on the theme of Food & Shelter. This will focus on the role architecture has to play in food production and in assisting us to live our lives. EconoSpaceMaking will play a major part in this exploration.

Work the 10sqm EconoSpace in central Victoria is about to resume. The building is currently being opened up after its winter hibernation. Like a grumpy bear the structure looks a little ragged but nonetheless is clear eyed and obviously ready to rock ‘n roll.

A generous coat of linseed oil will now be applied to the cladding, inside and out. This will nourish and revive the wood. Externally, the cladding will be finished with a naturally pigmented linseed oil paint.

The cladding will also act as a permanent shutter for the clay-straw infill which will form the walls.

Firstly, however, the roof will be installed!

You can follow this work at Architecture LIVE

The building of a ‘Fire Kitchen’ is also on the agenda. This will include a cob oven and rocket stoves – a complete fire-based cooking system independent of gas or electricity use. Details in forthcoming Sheltermakers.

The cob oven is being built by James Henderson of Henderson Clayworks. James will be delivering an Intensive Earth Plastering Course in central Victoria in April – see below for details

On the ‘Food’ side of things I”ll be detailing the making the making of ‘wicking beds’ – an ideal solution for growing healthy and nourishing food almost anywhere utilising grey or rainwater. Linking wicking beds with EconoSpaces is an excellent way of integrating the two essentials we need to sustain our lives – Food & Shelter.

When we consciously join these two essentials together we are offered the opportunity to see life in a whole new way. This ‘experience’ of growing food, creating shelter and then enjoying the ‘fruits’ of this endeavour, offers new insight into the meaning of being alive.

It is from this vantage that we can choose a forward path.

More on the ‘Food & Shelter’ theme in forthcoming Sheltermakers

Sat/Sun February 13/14th

EconoSpaceMaking

Castlemaine, Victoria

Experience architecture in this hands-on design/construction course with a focus on low-cost, self-build.

This weekend course will get you up close to the reality of designing and building your own mortgage-free shelter.

This mix of theory and design will bring it home to you how easy it can be to create small sustainable buildings with limited resources.

Instruction in drawing, modelmaking, construction techniques, materials, tools, planning – and more!

Enquiries & Booking: 03 9005 5833

$150 Couples $250 Vegetarian lunch included

Free Camping

Sat/Sun February 19/20th

Invisible Architecture Presentation

Peter Cowman BArch.

By invitation of Owner Builder Magazine

Seymour Alternative Farming Expo 2010 (Vic) – Building Seminar Programme

April 10-14th

Earth Plastering Intensive

Castlemaine, Victoria

A five day intensive course covering the basic skills and techniques of

earthen plastering. This course will cover all aspects of clay based plaster,

clay based paints and move into lime based plasters. Along the way

participants will learn how to refine the basic materials, apply plasters,

use pigments, create relief work, do fresco and polish earth & lime plaster.

This course is not a workshop it is a serious learning experience.

Due to the hands on nature of the corse the number of people is limited to ten.

$500 per person, $100 deposit by April 1st. Food and free camping provided.

For more information contact jshendos@gmail.com

Sat/Sun April 24 – 25th

Castlemaine, Victoria

Vastu Veda

The ancient Indian tradition of architecture and place

With Anthony Ashworth

Australia’s foremost exponent of Vastu Veda

$250 Early Bird Booking up to April 1st – $220

Free camping and vegetarian lunch provided

Enquiries & Booking: 03 9005 5833

THE ECONOSPACEMAKING DVD

3 YEARS IN THE MAKING

10 YEARS IN THE DREAMING

A LIFETIME IN THE LIVING

Sustainability begins in your own backyard. That is the compelling argument put forward on the EconoSpaceMaking DVD, a dynamic combination of text, drawings, photographs and video.

By learning how to create a small sustainable shelter – with no need to first obtain planning permission – you are offered the opportunity to regain territory lost to an economic system which depends on mortgage debt to fuel its insatiable growth.

From drawing to modelmaking, from concept to built reality, EconoSpaceMaking provides you with the means to create your own living architecture and to discover, in the process, who you really are.

Get a taste of what EconoSpaceMaking is all about:

INTRODUCTION TO ECONOSPACEMAKING

FROM THE ECONOSPACEMAKING DVD

CONFIGURING AN ECONOSPACE

10min EXCERPTS FROM THE 45min MOVIE ON THE ECONOSPACEMAKING DVD

WHAT’S ON THE DVD

A 63 page A4 fully illustrated Manual detailing how to design and construct your unique, low-cost EconoSpace

Over 2 hours of video instruction offering invaluable insights into the design and construction processes, including -

How to make and read drawings

How to build scale models

How to survey a site

How to budget for construction work

How to build your unique EconoSpace design

Model templates, allowing you to design and assemble your EconoSpace in miniature before constructing it full size

Working drawings for 10sqm and 25sqm EconoSpaces – all the information you need to create your unique building

EconoSpaceMakers can also participate in a dedicated online Forum where they can exchange ideas and information and help each other make their EconoSpaces happen.

DOWNLOAD FREE ECONOSPACEMAKING DVD SAMPLER pdf

ECONOSPACEMAKING DVD

€120 Europe $120 Australia

eMail sheltermaker at gmail.com for details

Sensitive Permaculture

Australian geomancer, writer and permaculturist Alanna Moore’s new book ‘Sensitive Permaculture – Cultivating the way of the sacred Earth’ explores the living energies of the land and how to connect with them. Along the way it features the clay-straw EconoSpace in Co. Leitrim.

The book, largely written in Co. Leitrim over the summer months, draws on indigenous wisdom from Australia, Ireland and elsewhere, combining the insights of geomancy and geobiology with eco-smart permaculture design, offering an exciting new paradigm for sustainable living.

Brimming with practical tips for eco-spiritual gardeners, it encourages us to live sustainably in harmonious co-operation and sacred custodianship of Country.

This book is now available to purchase online:

Order from Amazon Europe

Order from Amazon USA

NEXT SHELTERMAKER – IMBOLC

09 Samhain Sheltermaker

Peter Cowman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:42:55 +0000

09 Samhain Sheltermaker

Now that I am back in the antipodes the Australian dreamtime is working its magic on me.

After a deft leap from Ireland via Singapore, Perth and Sydney, delivering workshops along the way, I have come to earth in central Victoria where it is spring.

Gradually I am shedding layers, like an old snake or a chrysalis.

From this birthing a new me is emerging.

As the old order dissolves the new begins to emerge.

No one is quite sure what this is to be like.

What is certain is that it cannot be ordered online.

This sustainable life will have to be lived to be experienced.

Invisible to our usual ways of seeing, it is only by opening our hearts can we appreciate the delights this way of life holds for us …

Saturday, November 28th 2009 2 – 4.30pm

Invisible Architecture

An exploration of the secrets of architecture

Castlemaine Community House

Lyttleton Street

Castlemaine, VIC

DOWNLOAD POSTER

This energising mix of theory, fact and real life drama is an invitation from Irish architect Peter Cowman to enter the secret world of architecture and discover its many hidden dimensions.

Whether journeying from Architecture to Economics or from Dream House to Built Reality, this excursion within the invisible realms of the built environment will fascinate those interested in a deeper understanding of the role of architecture in our lives and in the creation of a sustainable future.

Some topics to be covered in this presentation:
Why are Buildings and People so alike?
SpaceTime & Architecture
Activating your Sheltermaker Gene
The Exploration of Inner & Outer Space
The Gender of Territory
Living Your Architecture

$10 Including free Living Architecture DVD

THE SMALL HOUSE MOVEMENT

The Small House movement is to homes what the Slow Food movement is to dinner: a celebration of sustainability, simplicity and nourishment. It’s a trend that’s gained momentum in recent years thanks to the trifecta of increasing climate change awareness, the global financial crisis and rising real estate prices.

The Small House movement is most active in the US, where people of all ages and incomes are foregoing “trophy” houses for small, even tiny, abodes that free up their time and money …

Small Houses as featured in Sanctuary magazine

Johnny Gogan’s EconoSpace

This little jewel of an EconoSpace was self-built by Leitrim based film-maker and writer Johnny Gogan. Using hemp-lime wall infill, recycled windows and doors and a sand-lime render the building functions as a studio for Johnny’s Bandit Films operation.

EconoSpace to feature in new book …

Sensitive Permaculture will be published by Python Press later this month and will be available in Europe early in 2010.

Brimming with practical tips for eco-spiritual gardeners, it encourages us to live sustainably in harmonious co-operation and sacred custodianship of Country.

Further details in Mid-summer/winter Sheltermaker

EconoSpaceMaking

Sustainable Shelter on a Shoestring

3 years in the making

20 years in the dreaming

A lifetime in the living

Work on the EconoSpaceMaking DVD Course is nearing completion.

Combining text, video and working drawings, this versatile package will brook no excuses as to why a person cannot move towards a sustainable way of life.

Featuring full design information on 10 and 25sqm EconoSpaces – which can be built free of planning control – this Course will allow you not only to dip your toe in the water but to take the plunge all the way into mortgage-free living!

Presenting unique and proven design and construction methodologies, along with unparalleled insights into the mysteries of architecture, this information package will allow anyone, anywhere, to make some sustainable space for themselves in the privacy of their own homes – on a shoestring.

Based on over 20 years of hands-on sheltermaking experience and on insights garnered from a lifetime commitment to mortgage-free living, this Course will have you scrambling for excuses as to why you simply can’t do it!

Whether its figuring out how to build with recycled materials, or guessing how the planning office will react to your EconoSpaceMaking exploits, the Course will be there for you all the way.

Drawing, modelmaking, costing, passive solar design, the use of natural materials and basic carpentry skills are all covered – along with the ‘invisibles’ which make life what it really is.

By understanding that building is about life you are offered a chance to make some space for yourself, in the real world, in the comfort of your own back yard.

Course participants can also join a dedicated online EconoSpaceMaking Forum to share ideas, developments, skills, insights, etc.

Generously supported by Sligo-Leitrim Arts Education Programme this groundbreaking Course will be available before Christmas!

Not for the fainthearted!

INVISIBLE ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP IN NSW

‘An awesome workshop …’

‘ A great day, really great …‘

‘Still buzzing from yesterday’s workshop …’

Consideration being given to the dynamics of this fledgling eco-community …

Making plans for a sustainable future …

Planning your 10sqm EconoSpace

Envisioning a mortgage-free future

Sunday December 6th

Yapeen, Castlemaine, VIC

Architecture Playhouse – making space for your life

DOWNLOAD POSTER

Imagining your Dream House and coaxing it into Reality is the theme of this fascinating 1-day hands-on workshop.

Using simple materials and tools plus a generous dash of creative thinking this free-fall into the world of architecture will forever change how you think of houses, jobs, mortgages and even life itself!

This hybrid of instruction and play will encourage a deeper understanding of the role buildings play in our lives and foster the rediscovery of the timeless architecture of childhood.

Make and take home your dream space!

$85 Materials and vegetarian lunch included

Booking Fee: $40 Balance payable on Sunday December 6th

Limited places available!

Phone Booking: 03 9005 5833

February 19/20th 2010

Invisible Architecture Presentation

By invitation of Owner Builder Magazine

Seymour Alternative Farming Expo 2010 (Vic) – Building Seminar Programme

NEXT SHELTERMAKER – MID-SUMMER/WINTER

09 Equinox Sheltermaker

Peter Cowman — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:29:51 +0000

EconoSpace Goes Nationwide

An RTE1 Nationwide crew spent a day on-site last weekend recording the in’s and out’s of the EconoSpaceMaking process. The focus of the crew’s attention was the reality of creating mortgage-free shelter.

With a dozen students in attendance – from as far afield as Scotland – the film crew had plenty to absorb: from clay slip making to a weary student enjoying an open air firebath!

Sian Cowman demonstrates the intricacies of making clay slip

They also filmed students getting into the sheltermaking zone – making peter-posts, floor beams and clay-straw. The more intrepid climbed ladders and gantries in pursuit of mystery.

The finished Nationwide programme will be broadcast later this year on RTE1.

Students and film crew alike were fed from the garden enjoying a range for organic greens. The success Alanna has had with growing this summer is well described in the picture below.

Alanna with her cabbage, Big Max

Discover Alanna’s growing secret here:

Forthcoming EconoSpacemaking Course obtains

Adult Arts Education Grant

Hot on the heels of the Nationwide bash the Sligo-Leitrim Adult Arts Education Programme announced its commitment to grant aid the preparation of the EconoSpaceMaking Course. Work on this is well advanced.

This DVD based Course will comprise text, drawings and video allowing anyone, anywhere to create their own EconoSpace. This dynamic material goes right to the heart of the sheltermaking mysteries.

If you are serious about sustainability you need to follow this course!

A dedicated online EconoSpaceMaking Forum is also being set up as part of the Course. This will allow students to share information and skills as well as discussing their sheltermaking insights.

The Course will be available in late November.

Architecture LIVE

The silver wings of St. Arthur fly me across Europe to the threshold of new adventures.

Lost in the husned confines of Frankfurt International Airport, I contemplate the future.

The International Herald Tribune documents the state of the world. Obama adressing the UN. Dire predictions regarding sea level rise for low-lying Vietnam. Deforestation in the Congo basin. Sober editorials. Ads for expensive timepieces. Share price lists. Travel news.

We feast on bread and cheese chased with a crisp courgette plucked from the garden this morning. This is our connection to the past, to the silent EconoSpace shielded from the worst the winter weather might bring to the Irish northwest.

Invisible Architecture Tour

Meanwhile, alongside the EconoSpace work, the Invisible Architecture dream is coming to life.

This exploration of the invisible aspects of buildings kicks off in Singapore before heading for Perth, Sydney and finally, central Victoria.

This journey will form the basis of a book on the same theme. You can follow this unfolding here, at livingarchitecturecentre.com

This energising mix of theory, fact and real life drama is an invitation to not only imagine your dream house but to experience it in all of its many dimensions.

This journey will encourage you to rediscover the architect of your childhood dreams and nurture this faculty back into life.

You will also learn how your dreams and reality might together be used to shape a sustainable future for people and planet.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 11th 2009 – 10am to 4.30pm

THE CHANNON HALL, MILL STREET, THE CHANNON, NSW
FEE: $80 – Couples $145
BOOKING & ENQUIRIES:
PHONE – 02 6689 1578
Email – bcarter61@optusnet.com.au
ONLINE – HERE

10sqm EconoSpace

Being back in Oz will give me a chance to revive the 10sqm EconoSpace which I put under wraps last April.

With the frame, windows, doors and cladding in place it’s all ready for its clay straw filling. This will be fun – me mixing it up with Australian dirt!

My adventures in this department will be regularly posted under Architecture LIVE

Next Sheltermaker – Samnhain

Architecture LIVE 12

Peter Cowman — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:28:30 +0000

Architecture LIVE 12

A visit to the Climate Change Camp to deliver an EconoSpace workshop confirms my worst fears. These are epitomised in a dream I later have of people pretending they have been drowned. A refusal to be fully alive appears to be at the heart of resistance to change.

The journey back and forth to the camp is through a countryside bereft of appeal. Towns, fields and houses resist efforts to meaningfully connect with them. The people scattered amongst this wasteland do indeed appear to be half-dead. This, I suppose, is the seed that birthed my dream.

Back at Síog seeds are active also. The cast walls push green shoots out towards the sun. This is excellent for the drying process and adds a living quality to the building. I see this as a metaphor for my life. In my dream I was unable to play dead, unlike my companions. In life too, I am unable to play dead. My life energy is too active, too intent on directing me towards the illumination I hungrily seek.

Ireland, at this time, is a foil for my intent, the opposing force which fuels the reaction which keep me alive. With our tickets to the antipodes purchased and workshops lined up along the way I can enjoy some relief, can take a breather from the hard slog. I embark on this with a degree of unease, an unsettling feeling that I am drifting on the tide away from a familiar coast. I know that I have to yield to this, have to allow the gravity of progress to exert its pull.

I contemplate this future often staring at the building-in-progress and interpreting its message – watching roof shadows dance tantalisingly close to the heads of windows or seeing how the malleable clay-straw softens the lines of the more rigid timber framing. These living aspects of the building have their own voice, a gentle murmer in the sea of change on which I drift. This is energising as well as being encouraging, like birthing in a new domain with unfamiliar natural laws – akin to spacewalking or underwater swimming. My body and my mind adjusts to this new reality while I fumble for handholds, afraid that I might disappear.

Now I dream of a giant Rubick’s Cube made of straw bales. Individual bales slide in and out of the cube displaying the secret of space-time. I am hypnotised by this repeating scenario and wake puzzled. Now my days are dogged by the question ‘what is time’?

I try to answer with my mind, make crude sketches on paper but remain puzzled. I know that time is an aspect of space, a property tied to the speed of light. So, within a cube whose sides are 186,000 miles long a particle of light will take 1 second to move from one side of it to the other. It is this interval between the light leaving and arriving which we call time. Because nothing physical can travel faster than light, lightspeed defines the ‘interval’ between a physical event and the observation of it.

Our earthly timeframe is defined by the division of our year into 365.25 days. This is the interval between regularly repeating events such as the solstices. Subdivided into seasons, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds, this calibration of time defines an earthly year.

Non-physical events can occur and be experienced instantaneously at a distance removed from their occurancer because they are not non-physical and therefore not limited by the speed of light – they are invisible. Life itself is such an invisible event or experience.

Life is prompting me to set aside such speculation in order to deal with more urgent matters. The television crew confirms it will film the next framing workshop. On foot of this two students pull out! Suddenly time compresses my hopes and adds urgency to my intentions. I love it when life grinds its gears even though it trounces my psyche and tightens my belly. But I know that I am alive and revel in that freedom. I am being snagged on trivialities and immediately act to loose myself. The world is turning under me, tightening its grip.

Despite these distractions Iight and time are still preoccupations. I think of Albert Einstein riding the Zurich tram to work observing the clock tower and hatching his theory of relativity. I indulge in these reveies even as my time here diminishes and I work towards my leavetaking. This has an unreal quality to it as well as being inevitable. I feel the world turning with me lashed to its surface transiting from one hemisphere to the next. The sense of unknowing which characterises this is the source of excitement and trepidation. I try to relax inside my bonds vowing not to struggle as we approach lightspeed.

The EconoSpace is still devouring clay-straw as it is gradually enclosed. The sun and moon probe this interior irrigating it with light. Neighbouring cats preen themselves in the open windows or lounge on the open straw bale. All of this life is being absorbed by the walls, storing them for future reference. A sense of the life to come hangs in the air.

Helpers come and go displaying similar convictions – that we are on to something special. Waves of conversation spread throughout the nest-like space, silently reverberating. Birds dart in and out devouring stray seeds. Light paints the walls and lends them warmth. A strange calm settles over me – respite or an illusion? Only time will tell.

Architecture LIVE 13

Architecture LIVE 11

Architecture LIVE – ClayStraw Mixing

Peter Cowman — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:49:23 +0000

A bird’s eye view of the clay-straw mixing process …

Thanks to Matt for this overview.

Architecture LIVE 11

Peter Cowman — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:14:03 +0000

Architecture LIVE 11

I make the first door frame and install this. This portal offers access to the enigmatic interior of the frame. From there I view the broad exterior over which a gathering moon presides. I dream then of being immersed in clay slip, pressed upon and forced into a dark chamber where indeterminate debris pummles my body.

I take this as an allegory for my life, encouragement to push myself out into the world to source the straw which is becoming increasingly vital to the sheltermaking. I juggle this commitment with bouts of filming and travel planning, recognising in that endeavour the pull of the antipodes on my soul.

I go to Strokestown on the strength of a hunch. A woman in a hardware shop directs me to a nearby house with a tractor parked outside. I explain at the door that I am looking for straw and am directed further up the town to an agriculture supplier. There I get a name and a phone number of a man who will sell me straw.

He arrives the next morning and surveys the scene. He even knows where I can source better clay than what I have managed to obtain myself. I am well impressed.

Encouraged by his promise to deliver 15 bales as soon as possible we tackle into the formwork. The sense of enclosure which this creates pushes my focus out to the west where the cows, of late, have chosen to spend a lot of time. This is the unsullied vista, the dreamland of the setting sun.

It is Lughnasadh. Light yielding to dark. The full moon must content itself with temporary radience. It probes the dark and brushes against our dreams. The quiet dilgence of our lives is relentlessly scrutinised.

We hasten our progress and summon via text messages aid to our quest. The straw bales are delivered and the first is rolled into the vacant interior. Alanna performs a short ceremony to acknowledge the commencement of the walling. Clay slip is sprinkled on the threshold and we give thanks for assistance rendered to the project thus far.

A tsunami of progress follows. James, a carpenter and volunteer assembles windows frames in a flash. Thomas mixes huge batches of clay slip. The first walling is installed into the formwork. The space assumes a busy aire.

Progress continues at a pace and the fledgling walls grow tall. The frame takes on a more defined and robust character. Muddied hands and clothes become the order of the day. Laughter fills the site and excitement encourages us all forward. The tactile quality of the clay-straw is familiar but new.

When the temporary shuttering is removed the building takes on new character. The clay-straw infill presents its face to the world mimicing a past still entrenched in our bones. The mixing process activates this knowing, drawing it outward allowing us to learn the technique at lightning speed.

I am stunned and excited simultaneously, relieved and disturbed. A poor response to our texts for help provoke the realisation that people do not really want to shelter themselves or to take full responsibility for their lives. The muddy and tactile clay-straw world offers a freedom akin to birthing. Swaddled in clay slip we emerge squaking and confused into the real world. Sundered from the long suffering mother we find ourselves drawn back to the protecting womb for succour. The shock of the outside world is too much to bear. The potential of freedom is frightening.

An avalanche of realisation carries me away. Suddenly I understand the resistance to the notion of building our own homes. It is fundamental, primal, retarded and unsustainable. The potential of our own lives is too much to bear. Our wish for anonimity drives us to the nearest product or situation where we can unburden ourselves of our individuality.

Suddenly it is all so simple, so easily explained. Our sheltermaker genes know all. It is simply a matter of activating these by plunging in. For those committed to being unborn the threat of success is too much to bear. For me this is a waystation on the long road. I feel relief, joy and tired in my bones. I begin to understand the situation of me being here, in this place, at this time. The EconoSpace seems to be emerging from another dimension, a hologram of the past superimposed on the here and now. I run my hand along its flanks, pat it hard, finger strands of protruding straw. I stand back half in wonderment, half in awe. Can this really be? Can it really be this simple?

Sloughing at the clay pile or mixing slip, I am awash in mud. The rhythmic certainty of the mixer encourages me past my resistances into a new place. I revel in this funk and squalor, half-mad. Nothing however can deter my enthusiasm. The scent of success is too strong. I follow this slavishly like a predator, ignoring rain and the aches in my bones. At the slightest opportunity I run my hand across the walls or thump them reassuringly. Cars slow to better determine just what is going on. Something familiar and something new juxtaposed. Past and present coinciding.

Architecture LIVE 12

Architecture LIVE 10

09 Lughnasadh Sheltermaker

Peter Cowman — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:04:35 +0000

LUGHNASADH SHELTERMAKER

In the Irish year autumn begins on August 1st. This is the harvest month, the time for gathering-in, for thanksgiving, for celebration.

This is also the time when we must acknowledge the imminent ascendancy of the dark side of the year, must relinquish our attachment to the long days which nourish our creativity.

ARCHITECTURE LIVE

Summer at the Living Architecture Centre has been filled with work on the EconoSpace. The frame has been roofed, windows and door frames have been inserted, the sub-floor has been laid and the clay-straw infilling is currently underway.

Read all about the current EconoSpace project in Architecture LIVE:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

ECONOSPACEMAKING

Allied to this the distance learning EconoSpaceMaking Course has been taking shape and is due to be completed before the next Sheltermaker emerges at the equinox.

HANDS-ON ECONOSPACEMAKING COURSE

If you are interested in the EconoSpace concept there will be a hands-on weekend course on September 19th-20th.

DETAILS OF ECONOSPACEMAKING HANDS-ON WEEKEND COURSE HERE

LIVE HOUSE DESIGN COURSE

If sustainable house design is more your thing there will be a LIVE Course in Sustainable House Design & Construction on Saturday September 5th.

DETAILS OF LIVE COURSE HERE

INVISIBLE ARCHITECTURE

The concept of Invisible Architecture has also been birthed this summer, a workshop which explores the visible and invisible aspects of buildings.

DETAILS OF INVISIBLE ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOPS HERE

10sqm ECONOSPACE

I am also preparing to return to Australia to deliver a series of workshops and to complete work on another EconoSpace, a 10sqm one largely made from recycled materials.

This EconoSpace features a new foundation truss system …

… uses recycled eucalyptus wood …

… weatherboarding and recycled windows and glass.

HERE & NOW

In the Here & Now part of my attention is focused on the major issues confronting the world – the collapse of the monetary system and the ongoing puzzle about maintaining growth without depleting vital resources and destroying the environment.

Most of all I am fascinated how people are dealing with all of this. It seems that Denial is the order of the day, a wait and see attitude worthy of the emperor Nero who reportedly played the fiddle while Rome burned.

It is fascinating that there is not more attention paid to consciousness at this time, a reappraisal of life issues and a recasting of values more in line with natural systems.

Perhaps it has ever been so, the world divided into ranks according to consciousness from the enlightened to those who deny there is such a thing as consciousness at all.

If this is the case we had best get on with the job of living our unique lives, maintaining in the process a web of support to carry us through.

NEXT SHELTERMAKER: EQUINOX

Invisible Architecture

Peter Cowman — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:38:12 +0000

THE CONCEPT

This energising mix of theory, fact, anecdote and real life drama is an invitation from Irish architect, teacher and writer Peter Cowman, to not only imagine your dream house but to experience it in all of its many dimensions.

Leading you on a journey to very edge of space, Peter encourages you to rediscover the architect of your childhood dreams and nurture this faculty back into life. Then, with feet firmly on the ground, Peter will demonstrate how your dreams and reality might together be used to shape a sustainable future for people and planet.

This stimulating hands-on workshop will forever change how you experience architecture, life and dream.

Excitement, learning and fun all in one package.

WORKSHOP CONTENT

2D Drawing and 3D Modelmaking – expressing your self
Architecture & Economics – making the connection
Exploring Outer & Inner Space – discovering who we are
The Architecture of the Womb – sharing a common inheritance
Dream House – exploring the house inside
Buildings & People – the likenesses
Sexing Space – perceiving the gender of territory
Activating your Sheltermaker Gene – living in 4 dimensions
Playing House – reclaiming the past
Living your Architecture – imagining the future

TUTOR

Peter Cowman is an architect, teacher, writer and the director of the Living Architecture Centre, the internet school of architecture. He began teaching people how to design their own homes in 1989. This original ‘Be Your Own Architect’ Course has now developed into the unique and highly popular Course In Sustainable House Design & Construction. His work has been received much media coverage including the documentary ‘Building On The Edge’ broadcast on Irish national television. He has a special interest in on mortgage-free self-building. He teaches and lectures internationally. Further information of all aspects of Living Architecture are available from www.livingarchitecturecentre.com

CONTACT

If you are interested in having an Invisible Architecture Workshop in your area contact Peter on 076 602 6046 Ireland; 03 9005 5833 Australia; 020 3287 2949 UK, or eMail sheltermaker at gmail.com

Architecture LIVE 10

Peter Cowman — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 00:47:45 +0000

Architecture LIVE 10

A beautiful load of daub, resembling a giant elephant stool, now resides in the yard. This prods the clay-straw operation into motion. I make a small test panel then watch over this like an anxious parent.

Up on the roof I wrestle the last panel into place, secure it then stand back to admire my handywork. The protective hands of the roof glow in the light, radiating good energy into the space below. This invites formal opening up of this encouraging the flooring and walling work to proceed. This rhythm has its own momentum – first, relief that the roof has been completed, followed by a re-emergence of fear.

The fear begins its encroachment as I labour on the sub-floor – twinges of alarm set off by the weight of the clay-straw test panel. Will the sub-floor be strong enough to bear this weight? What of the moisture – will this cause a problem? What of the approaching winter – will this attack the exposed walls with storm and tempest? Even my dreams are invaded by questions parading in the guise of fear.

During my waking hours I allay as many of these fears as I can, working on the subfloor and talking myself through to a positive place. I also feel the pull of the southern hemisphere working its magic on me, luring me away. This is something of a relief from the funereal atmosphere that has enveloped Ireland. These contrasts between what is and what might be threaten to stretch me to breaking point, invite me to leave my dismembered parts scattered across the globe.

However, for now I am confined to this place which is bathed in gloom. All and sundry seem implicated in the death of the good times. Allied to this is a sense of embarrasment that people actually believed the hype surrounding the boom. There is no other way to explain what is happening. None of this is the slightest bit of use to me. I will simply have to wait until people emerge from hibernation and face reality. Who knows when that might be!

Straw is the latest addition to my shopping list. I make a few phone calls which leave me no better off than when I started. The pile of daub in the yard reassures me that the straw will be found to companion it in its new life. Almost daily people add their names to the helpers list. The imminent arrival of Thomas, my erstwhile apprentice, will expedite progress. With the energy building I tighten my seat belt by a few notches.

Out of this assortment of hope, fear and expectation the Invisible Architecture flyer emerges. This is the roadmap which I very much wish to follow. I push it out over the net and await a response. The quiet which surrounds this waiting is cooled by rain and the attention I must pay the EconoSpaceMaking Course. This work takes on the feeling of something from my past being tidied up and packed away. This contrasts with its potential to shape the future. This motor, propelled by opposites spinning invisible threads, winds around me. Caul, shroud or cloak – who knows? Only time will tell.

Architecture LIVE 11

Architecture LIVE 9

Peter Cowman — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:13:41 +0000

Architecture LIVE 9

I am back at the quarry from which I gathered the initial clay sample in the company of the owner who understands exactly what I want.

“Aye, it’s daub you want. Sure I grew up in a mud house myself. Used to pull the horsehairs out of the wall and get in trouble for it too!”

We are mounted in a 4WD heaving through mud and devestation.

“Well that’s the trend now – to go back to the old ways and make houses out of natural materials like clay. Things that can decay naturally.”

“Just like ourselves you mean! Go back to the earth where we came from!”

When we reach our destination high above the open quarry Tom encourages a massive excavator into life and starts pawing at the earth. Greats lumps of daub appear, reddish brown tinged with green and yellow.

“That’s the stuff alright!”

With a tiny shovel I carefully fill my sample bucket moderating my excitment with a degree of shame that the earth has been so disturbed.

Back at the workshop I dissolve the samples in water and watch them turn to glowing paste. It is cool and silky to the touch, a pale reddish colour in which I see progress.

I am energised enough to begin work on the other side of the roof. I make a scaffold out of peter-post and erect this with Alanna & Siãn’s help. The interior meanwhile, becoming accustomed to use, is crying out to be opened up.

The weather however confounds all plans to realise these ambitions immediately. I retreat to the keyboard and the labour of compiling EconoSpaceMaking Information. This strays into general architectural education before homing in on the sweet fruit of mortgage free sheltermaking.

The dream couched in this objective is buffeted by challenge. It is here avoidance gains the upper hand, gorging itself on temptation but leaving behind the sweet enticement of freedom. So it is that the world makes and remakes itself, consuming its best intentions.

At moments such as these, when philosophy makes its voice heard above the rain, the cabin is blessed. Here is the cosy fireside of longing, the lodgement wherein the weary can relinquish their burden and partake in the pleasure of their circumstance.

The profundity of this truth confounds me, giving birth to the wish that I might ever be able to render it into words, or deliver it in such a way that justice might be done to it.

My story and the world’s story are the one story, just as your story is the world’s story. The thin apparal that makes us who we are is but a light dressing draped across the robust invisibility of our substance. We are all one, shuffling towards the selfsame destination blind to this natural alliance.

Meanwhile my conscience agitates for work to be done as well as it might be done at this point in time. I match myself against the worst the weather can bring – torrential downpours that threaten to swamp the entire site. Thunder and bright flashes of lightening. This display of change is a picture of the future rolling in from the Atlantic. We can but acknowledge this and prepare ourselves to live under its tutelage.

Architecture LIVE 10

Architecture LIVE 8

Peter Cowman — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:53:24 +0000

Architecture LIVE 8

With the help of a neighbour and his horsebox the roofing is collected from the supplier. This proves to be something of a comedy as the horse box is too short and the roofing too long. However with a little ingenuity we manage to secure the load and creep back to Leitrim in one piece.

Balanced against the quiteness of the workshop/course scene progressing the roof provides lots of stimulus. Does my future really lie here in Ireland or am I destined to be elsewhere? This question weighs on me as I survey the scene from the roof peak. It is as if the country has gone to sleep, waiting for the situation to change of its own accord. This has a strange and disturbing quality to it mirorred in the calm that cocoons each day.

The perfect roofing weather encourages me past my own resistances, applying logic to my restlesness and soothing words to my fears. Making a roof is like that – the perfect foil for ones desire for a quiet and peaceful life. So it is that the weather changes course and sends a constant drizzle down from the pearly sky. I huddle under the lean-to and gaze upon the two lonely sheets which I have managed to install. This has been something of a drama – wrestling the heavy 4.8m long sheets into position from the back of the horsebox. This requires perfect calm in terms of the weather and in terms of one’s own temperament. Securing the sheeting is something of a joy though – feeling the heavy screws biting into the purlin and tightening themselves against future storms.

Now that I have the unloading and installing routine down all I can do is wait for a clearance. I fill this time with work on the EconoSpaceMaking Course – remembering past projects, past traumas and past sucesses. This brings to mind the nature of time and how bound up it is with architecture and space. Creating a building is all about future time, the time when the building will be occupied and in use as opposed to the actual time spent in its making. It is the making time, which reveals so much about who we are and where we are going.

Designing and making a building allows us to choose our direction in life. This journey begins long before the first sod is turned or the first nail is driven. By the time we reach these stages our direction has been clearly established. It is very difficult to alter this course once construction is underway. This is why unresolved issues which surface during the building phase can be so challenging.

Normally sensetivity is absent from the building site – for good reason. When the fabric of a building begins to enclose the space which will constitute its interior the potential of that space begins to be revealed. If this does not accord with ones own life potential then a conflict is inevitable. This is why ‘self-building’ is so challenging and why most people prefer strangers to build their houses on their behalf. That way one can consign these challenges to a realm beyond ones control.

In my case the challenges of my life are felt in every hammer blow. Perched on the roof under the inquisitive gaze of passers-by I am naked and vulnerable though each small forward step carries me deeper into the mystery of life and further from the mundane.

The weather feeds my frustration as I clamber down one more time from my perch to shelter from the rain. The internet weather map reveals an Atlantic size bank of cloud drifting in from the west that may take a week to pass. So, I change tack and utilse my frustration to generate forward movement.

I move inside the frame and begin the installatiion of the subfloor. In my mind I have been holding off working on the inside until the roof was completed and a fresh ritual enacted to celebrate the opening up of the interior. I sudenly realise that be true to that aspiration if I confine the work to the floor.

As soon as I begin work I feel a surge of energy encouraging me forward. In half an hour I have the first section complete. A new world is arrayed around me. I am floating, held only by the gravity of my thoughts inside the frame. Alanna and the cows witness my excitment. The potential of the future appears from nowhere, raw ingredients to alchemise a new reality.

This experience is contrasted with the dullness of the countryside through which we pass on our way back and forth to Mayo. Everywhere life appears to have been put on hold. Even towns and villages appear deserted. It is on the roads or in the shops where one encounters life. The land seems to cry out for nourishment and attention yet all it receives is indifference. Nowhere can one witness a move towards a sustainable reality. No wind chargers, no solar panels, no vegetable gardens, no cyclists, no walkers, no creativity, no excitment, no love.

I force myself to stare this in the face, to witness my own distraught response as I pick my way forward. Memories of oppression and hunger are everywhere piled high threatening to erupt at any moment. We discover artifacts which bear witness to the past – bullans and sacred stones, ancient places of worship, mountains with summits hidden in the sky. This tesimony stands against the emptiness of the present, reducing it to nothing.

Back in Leitrim I hoist myself skyward once again under this burden of insight. The accumulated weight of knowing presses down on me like a sentence. I struggle to imagine the Irish Awakening birthing a new reality. This possibility seems so remote that it drags me down to earth and confounds my sense of optimism. Where is the hope lurking? In projections? In facts and figures? In the hidden recesses of peoples hearts?

I hear no answer as I drift towards the horizon.

Architecture LIVE 9

Architecture LIVE 7

Midsummer Sheltermaker

Peter Cowman — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:22:20 +0000

Midsummer/winter Sheltermaker

Make it Happen!

Ready to the the plunge into sustainable living?

Or perhaps you just want to dip your toe in the water, find out what’s involved and take it from there?

Wherever you are coming from in regards the unfolding future there is a Course or Workshop that will not only take you behind the sustainable living scene but show you exactly how you can make it happen for yourself!

Check out the Programme!

DOWNLOAD SUMMER PROGRAMME

The EconoSpace Project

My own life and the architecture of the EconoSpace are one and the same thing.

Working on the roof is where ballet meets monkey man.

I enjoy this parody of life even when it strips me to the bone and shreds my illusions.

There is no finer companion than your self in such situations.

It’s one of the reasons I like to work alone even though this invites all sorts of pretenders to question your sanity.

When you get the whiff of challenge that’s when you know that you are alive.

In answering one has the silent weight of chi to carry your words to their intended destination.

Putting a roof over one’s head carries weight as an expression because we all understand exactly what it means on every level.

That’s where the power and the fear intertwine and confuse us.

Power gets its energy from fear but we must accept this package however flawed me might deem it to be.

This is where our sheltermaker selves must take up the challenge and raise the roof beams.

It’s then we understand that it is fear which serves to wake us up to our own power.

Check out Architecture LIVE

Humpty Dumpty Syndrome

Peter Cowman BArch.

The world has a certain Humpty Dumpty quality to it at the moment. As all the king’s horses and all the king’s men strive to put the poor fellow together again we stand and watch as if there might be some possibility of success.

As children we resigned ourselves to the fact that this cosmic egg inspired figure was shattered for good and all time. However, in the grown up world we seek to rewrite history by believing that the king’s resources are sufficient to mend the fallen icon’s fatal fractures.

So the printing presses run forging money with which to paper over the cracks that have shattered our world. Such illusions are not worth the paper they are printed on.

However, where most people in the developed world have been prevailed upon to buy into this illusion they have a vested interest in success of the salvage operations.

This directly relates to the markey value of the paper they hold – usually the Title Deeds to their homes – and to the level of repayments which they are obliged to meet in order to retain a modicum of control over their properties and their lives.

This is the reality with which many people are faced and it is the reason why many people are hoping that the king’s men will be successful.

Well we all know the eventual outcome of this situation. Tears will have to be shed and we will have to resign ourselves to the fact that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.

Complaining about deficient politicians, greedy bankers, rogue traders or dishonest developers is all a waste of time. We have to get in tune with what is happening and craft our way forward from there.

More than anything it is the emotions within to this story which demand our attention. We first need to express our fears, to vent our anguish, to hit bottom before we can craft a new reality.

The emotions which fuel our quest for life are the self same ones which are manipulated by the economic system to turn us into witless bystanders. We allow this to happen by surrendering control over the essentials of life – the acquisition of food and shelter.

The commercial provision of food and shelter is the foundation of the market economy.

Where food has mercifully survived the imposition of rigid legislative control concerning its production, people can still connect with the natural cycles of sowing and reaping in their quest for true reality.

On the other hand, the provision of shelter has been the subject to strict legislative control designed to render the inherent emotional value of ‘home’ in purely monetary terms. This allows our net worth to be expressed in terms of current market valuation or degree of indebtedness to the system.

It is here, where warm emotions are turned to cold calculations, that we fall prey to illusion.

When we surrender control of our space we surrender control of our lives. This process begins by surrendering our time.

The modern economy is built on the credo that Time Is Money. So, when we work we happily exchange our time for money which we then use to provide for our need of food and shelter. So it is the merry-go-round of the modern world is fuelled.

But, where Time is eternal it is assumed, because of the belief that Time Is Money, that money is also eternal. It is this illusion which stimulates the demand for endless growth which drains the world of vitality. Our selves and our homes are also drained of vitality as we labour under this illusion.

In the ancient architectural traditions of Vastu and Feng Shui the incorporation into a building a flow of life energy, or ‘chi’, was considered to be essential for the wellbeing of its occupants.

It is the absence of chi a building will feel dead – an all to familiar experience in the modern world.

To revitalise our buildings we must first revitalise our selves. This process begins by reclaiming our space and our time, relinquishing trust in the king’s men thereby constructing a new reality.

This is the brink on which many people now find themselves poised, contemplating the question of where to start.

One starts by acknowledging the fact that the flow of life energy, or chi, is invisible and cannot be seen. Chi is perceived through our emotions and is experienced as a feeling of wellbeing.

The presence of chi in our homes can bring immense benefit to our lives. To avail of this our lives must be harmonious with the natural world from which chi flows. This invisible realm speaks to our emotional selves, quite different from the realm of rational and logic which speaks to our minds.

To attract chi to our homes, whether they be existing or new buildings, we first have to acknowledge the invisible realms from which it emerges. This is largely a matter of persuading one’s mind to share power with one’s intuition. This rebalancing creates a new view of the world and inspires a re-evaluation of the direction, values and commitments of our individual lives.

By bringing our lives and homes into closer harmony we can recapture our space and consequently our time. This is vital if we are to live our lives fully. Such a change also offers us the opportunity of acknowledging that the kings men will never be able to put poor old Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Such liberation has it consequences – feeling the dead weight of negative equity or feeling locked into a life that is not really true to ones deeper self. All such emotions are characteristic of the major change which the world is experiencing right now.

Resisting this change allies us to the illusion that the king’s men are succeeding and so mires us in the disentgrating modern world. To escape this fate we must step outside the familiar into the unknown, embrace our fears, shed our tears and trust that the benificience of the universe will lead us to fulfillment.

1st INTERNATIONAL HEMP BUILDING SYMPOSIUM!

DATES 16-18 SEPTEMBER 2009 KENMARE BAY HOTEL, KENMARE, CO. KERRY, IRELAND.

Hosted by Hempbuilding.com & Steve Allin, author of ‘Building with Hemp’ and Canadian hemp builder Jayeson Hendyrsan of Hempcrete Natural Building.

To book & get more info go to our website:

www.irelandgreenbuilding.com

or email:

symposium@hempbuilding.com

Symposium PDF info click here

MAYO ENERGY AUDIT

Andy Wilson, director of Mayo’s Sustainability Institute and editor of Sustainability Magazine, along with colleague Paul Lynch, have produced a fascinating insight into what the future holds energy-wise for Ireland’s third biggest county.

This in-dept audit examines in detail Mayo’s current and projected energy demands paying close attention to the practicalities of applying the latest technological solutions to replace current fossil fuel dependence.

The primary conclusion of the Audit, apart from the usual call for reductions in consumption, is interesting in that it highlights the potential of forestry in providing for a range of needs, including energy, but not confined to that alone.

This is interesting as it pinpoints the needs for all solutions to future energy demand to have a social as well as a commercial aspects to them.

The Audit also clearly states that the State’s position regarding the ‘unlimited’ potential of Ireland’s wind and wave energy resources ‘do not stand up to serious scrutiny.’

This is a wake-up call not just for Mayo but for the entire country.

However it is the Audit’s focus on simple and affordable solutions that underwrites its success – for example the planting of 50,000 hectares broadleaves and conifers to provide not only for future energy needs but also to provide a firm foundation for the future social and economic development of the county.

ORDER MAYO ENERGY AUDIT

THE FUTURE OF FORESTRY

The potential of forestry, not only in respect of meeting Ireland’s future energy needs, but also in regards to providing a firm foundation for social, economic and even spiritual development, was the subject of a fascinating talk by Andrew St. Ledger of The Woodland League at the recent Eco Living Festival in Co. Leitrim.

Andrew not only detailed the practical applications of forestry on a local level – the provision of food, building materials, medicine, shelter, amenity and so on – but also the potential forest development has to connect us back into natural cycles.

It is fascinating that the Mayo Energy Audit shares the same conclusions.

Even more fascinating was Andrew’s explanation that the EU sees forestry as the foundation of rural development something the Irish government is loath to embrace!

For more on this read:

‘The case of Ireland
Funding Forests into the Future
How the European Fund for Rural Development affects Europe’s forests’

Next Sheltermaker: Lughnasadh

Architecture LIVE 7

Peter Cowman — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:23:59 +0000

Architecture LIVE 7

Fear flutters down as I work on the roof. I imagine gale force winds sucking on the flimsy skin. Suddenly, the purlins I am using seem too slender and too far apart. I lever myself forward using the weight of logic, speaking aloud. I gain enough reassurance from this to labour on, watching in fascination the shape of the building emerging. I am assembing a dream from memory, teasing it into realty. The enticement to be inside is strengthening.

We visit the roofing factory, pick a profile and a colour. On the way back I get a brainwave about sourcing clay in a quarry. I am drunk on encouragement. The simpler the task gets the more puzzling it becomes.

Making a small building to live in is just not that hard – physically, that is. The struggles are mostly abstract. This is why it is most important to have a design that is leading you in the right direction. As you put your plan into action the struggles you encounter will all be minor ones because you have disposed of your excess baggage during the design phase. The power of this approach is similar to that of the lever – a small weight applied to tremendous effect.

The phone line and our inboxes are strangely quite. We have no idea exactly why. All the more time to focus on the here and now. The silent tide carries us gently along, the shore receeding and approaching like a breath. This rhythm is dreamy and unfolds like a dance.

I prance about on the frame, survey the countryside and the sky. This is the backdrop against which I perform, articifer of restlessness and dream. The outside world all but disappears as I catch the updraughts and descent renewed. Cars slow and cows pay quiet attention.

The next quest is to source the clay which is done with a simple phone call. A local quarry will deliver as much as I want for the price of carriage. The ease of this is balanced with the news that the price of the roofing we want is coming in way over budget. This see-sawing of expectation and dream makes me dizzy and reignites the embers of fear.

Putting a roof over one’s head will always trawl up fears and tantalise one with dreams which might or might not be realised. This marks the dividing line between possibility and realisation, between inner and outer.

I heave myself up on the frame to adjudicate on the likely outcome of this situation, securing the roof with a few more nails. The solidity and strength I feel is reassuring, encouraging me to dive within the unfolding mystery and to test its depth.

We have carried out an audit of resources and declare ourselves ready to commit to expenditure which will now enclose the frame, hiving off a portion of the universe for our personal use. We have even found a car within our price range. The unfolding gathers momentum as we prepare ourselves for what lies ahead.

As is becoming the norm, forward motion is balanced with pauses and puzzlement. A visit to the quarry – in the newly acquired car - to inspect the clay turns out to be a visit to the underworld. Dust and noise fills the air. The land is torn open and is being devoured by giant machines. Trees stand forlorn alongside mounds of upturned earth. My guide indicates one with a nod of his head. ‘You can take as much of that as you want’.

I struggle in the devestation to explain myself. ‘Well it’s really clay I want – to build with.’

‘Clay, you mean topsoil like?’

‘No, clay.’ I pick up a handful and work it into a ball while he watches. Below me, in a huge pit, machines and trucks act out a strange slow-motion ballet. I struggle to find words and a way of retreating. I fill the bucket with some ‘samples’ and enter back into the world of light puzzling as to how I can fill this sudden hole in my plans.

Work on the roof offers plenty of destraction. I lay in the boarding on the east side marvelling at the subtle emergence of the inside of the building. Next I negotiate a reduced price for the roofing and place the order.

Things move slowly forward as I accept that the roof is where my attention is most needed. Once that is in place there will be a covered place to work and the walls will take precedence.

Architecture LIVE 8

Architecture LIVE 6

Peter Cowman — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 22:05:02 +0000

Architecture LIVE 6

The internet signal, beamed from nearby Sheemore, arrives on the back of good weather. Suddenly we are reconnected with the outside world with enough speed to Skype across the globe. Outside, the fields are crammed with buttercups. Dreamy light bathes everything in timelesness.

The site receives a makeover ahead of the planned Eco Living Tour. It responds well, showing off its beauty in the glorious sunshine. Meanwhile the moon builds towards the full and we speculate as to likely attendance numbers.

This is impossible to determine, though scattered reports arrive by email or phone from all over the country indicating interest. Still without a vehicle, we direct operations from the cabin via the internet.

The festival suddenly catches us in its embrace. Plans unfold and people arrive. Talks proceed and demonstrations begin. Before I know it a busload of participants are heading towards Siog with several cars in tow. People troop into the cabin and out onto the deck, circumnavigate the ponds and survey the compost heaps.

Back at the Community Resource Centre the mood is positive and music enlivens proceedings. Connections are made and promises declared. Even the building seems to be enjoying itself. One speaker reveals a fascinating strategy to stimulate rural dvelopment – the restoration of natural woodlands. At first this seems naive until further examination reveals the power of the idea.

Woodlands can provide for all our needs – fuel, food, employment, leisure and most important of all, a deep connection to nature. Woodlands are the natural landscape of Ireland and their elimination also led to the erosion of a clear sense of national identity.

This insight is reinforced by the arrival of the timber for the roof. Suddenly the festival is behind and the completion of the EconoSpace is what lies ahead. This infects my dreams and my waking, exerting a constant weight on my thoughts and actions.

I organise my tools and supplies blessing the auspicious weather conditions and the hopes which are to be carried forward on this rising tide. The frame stands like a sentinel on the land which has taken on a new appearance from what it had on my first arrival. I see it all anew, as if I am seeing myself portrayed in its development.

Such thoughts provide a quite refrain to the physical work on the roof. The frame responds to this attention like a neglected lover rediscovered. Aloft on the gantry I have my head in the clouds. Purlins are lined up and secured, the small generator hums in the ground and my neighbour saves hay while the sun shines.

The act of enclosing draws a quiet distinction between inside and outside, between dream and reality. We have to experience this in order to be enveloped in its magic. It is as if we are making ourselves, carving out of nothingness a place to be.

It is the nature of this being that puzzles so many. We have drifted from abstraction into the material world which clings to us like a rejected lover. We plant our feet firmly on the ground rather than drift aloft and enjoy the view from a new perspective, craft the future to imitate today’s reality. This can only end in tears and heartache. Life wants something more from us and we something more from it. This was evident from the weekend festivities with people revelling in our version of daily life.

So, what’s stopping this happening, why the hesitation, the wait and see? Fear is the key. Fear of failure. Fear of what other people think. Fear of survival. Fear of ridicule. Fear of rejection. Fear of being different. Fear for our childrens future. Fear of getting it wrong. Fear of being left out.

When fear sets the agenda the world freezes over and we go into suspended animation waiting for the thaw, waiting for better times, waiting for a lovers touch to draw us into it’s embrace. Meanwhile, life moves on and with it opportunity and freedom.

Architecture LIVE 7

Architecture LIVE 5

Peter Cowman — Fri, 29 May 2009 21:27:07 +0000

Architecture LIVE 5

Preparations for the festival exert a strong gravitational pull on us. Flyers and posters are packaged and consigned to the post. We cadge lifts and internet access in the increasing awareness that some people are becoming tired of our neediness. This makes for a delicate dance.

It is with sincere gratitude therefore that I wend my way to north Leitrim in a borrowed car to teach at the Organic Centre. I examine the road frontages on the way as I might those in a foreign country. What sort of lives are lived behind these facades I wonder?

I am to give a 1-day workshop on sustainable house design. This I deliver as a serious of controlled explosions, conscious as I am of my desire to not hold back in any way. The students are relieved and shocked at the same time. They welcome the truth but the implications are another matter entirely.

A high level of consensus presently exists regarding the profound change that has occured in the world over the past year. No one is quite sure what this change is but everyone agrees that it has happened.

My own take on things is that the illusions surrounding money have been revealed in such a way that no one can deny it. While this might not be much of a shock, the nature of the replacement system is where the difficulty lies for people.

The road to sustainability is long and hard. Kiss goodbye to the comfort zone of your fulfilled desires and enter into the new reality, the land of opportunity where fresh starts are a way of life!

It is to this shocking but potentially liberating place that people now find themselves directed, not so much by their heads but buy their hearts. This is a true reflection of what is happening within the wider world, where a rebalancing of the weight of male-inspired, scientific-rational thought forms with a more contemplative, feminine and relaxed way of life is taking place.

While this is fairly obvious to most people the sticking point lies in embracing this new way of life. Not many people really want to live simply because there seems to be too many downsides – loss of status; insecurity; potential poverty; denial of opportunities to children; major ongoing commitments; etc., etc..

During the course of the day the students work hard to reach the heart of the resistances which hold them back. Afterwards, we break up and return to our respecive places in the world.

I wander through Manorhamilton and Dromohaire distributing flyers and putting up posters for the festival. It is heading towards mid-summer but it is blustery and cold. The streets and shopfronts are bleak. The only inviting place I enter is a busy pub where I am drowned in a mix of fumes and body heat.

I wonder why I am doing in this place. My conscious mind ticks off reasons while my imagination stutters and falters. I think of Alanna back in the cabin, gazing at the rolling view that carries on to the horizon. It is the conjoined threads of our creativity that weave the spell which dazzles us here. We can but submit to the momentum of this and await revelation.

I order the wood for the roof, the subfloor and the lean-to which has sprouted from the plan at the north gable. This will house the wet rooms and act as lobby to the warm interior. John has tracked down a roofing supplier. The biggest outstanding issue now is the source of the daub so I put out a request for this.

Everything is heaving into motion. I cling to this lumbering beast and hope for the best. An email arrives from my contact at RTE television confirming that the proposed filming of the EconoSpace construction is to go ahead as planned. This adds momentum to the unfolding project and quickens the pace of developments.

I prepare the ground for the building work, scaling the naked frame taking measurements. From aloft the countryside has the appearance of a reclining beast. Below me Alanna plants a veggie garden while above late flights out of Heathrow rumble towards north America.

I draw together the pieces of EconoSpace information which I have compiled over the years. This scrapbook of facts, observations and intentions tells its own story. I see myself in this, the lone traveller crossing the wide desert. This is encouragement enough to keep me moving forward, the itinerant sheltermaker headed towards the distant horizon.

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Architecture LIVE 4

Peter Cowman — Fri, 22 May 2009 07:46:48 +0000

Architecture LIVE 4

I am prompted to enact a ritual to mark the recommencement of work on the frame. I dig out, somewhat by chance, a message from my Australian friend James Henderson who introduced me to the clay-straw technique which I intend to use to complete the walls. It says:

‘With any building I usually connect with the local Deva and ask for permission to be able to build a structure that enhances the relationship between humans and the spiritual world. Then I dowse for location and material selection.’

There has been a continuous line of communication with the nature spirits on the land since I first began work. So strong were the early exchanges that I felt another presence there.

It was Alanna who first alerted me to the fact that the spirits of the place wanted to know more about what I was doing. Once I revealed my intentions being on the land became a constant joy. The unfolding of my life from that point onwards has been much more consciously inner directed. This has carried me deeper and further into the mystery of life.

I dowse to ask if a recommencement ritual is appropriate and obtain a ‘yes’, then ask for a time and for details of offerings that might be acceptable. I feel a sense of relief that coincides with the feeling that Siog is where I am meant to be.

Preparations are carried out in glorious sunshine. I gather wildflowers and branches to decorate the frame. I feel a new level of trust that it is good for my life to be here. I see the passage of time in the growth of trees I planted. Vigour. Tenacity. Blossoms.

At 12 we begin.

‘ I ask to revive this sleeping frame
To draw it from the realms of sleep and possibility
Into the now
That we might enclose it
And occupy the sacred space within.’

A bell rings and further words are spoken in front of the decorated workbench altar. This is followed by a clockwise round of the frame, blessing the four corners. Then we move to the centre and speak aloud the longings most precious to us.

Afterwards, we lazily ride our bikes to Willie & Natalia’s and sit in their yard, checking our emails. This does not seem absurd at all especially when I see Willie taking a picture of his goat looking over the halfdoor of the caravan-office!

The world drifts into our consciousness and we lob emails into cyberspace. This is far removed from the immediacy of life around us. Bees hum at our feet. Birds busy themselves about the place. Cats stroll by.

By evening work is in full swing. Grass is being mowed, compost heaps moved and the first glob of daub is being pummeled into submission. I immerse myself in clay slip that I might familiarise myself with its texture and characteristics. I throw in some straw and mix by hand. It feels good, like nestbuilding.

The drawings I have made of the frame take on new meaning. I can now see the changes which have been wrought from my first conception of the design. So much in my life has changed that it is a wonder that any vestige of the original remains. I can clearly see what needs adjustment and how this kitchen-living space will adjoin the remaining spaces.

The life to be sheltered within these buildings is not visible on the page but it is palpable nonetheless. Dream and possibility push forward anxious to play their roles.

So the job of quantifying and sourcing materials and of planning the construction sequence begins.

Architecture LIVE 5

Architecture LIVE 3

Peter Cowman — Mon, 18 May 2009 08:02:57 +0000

Architecture LIVE 3

It is to Wicklow that Alanna and myself are transported. Booked to deliver courses at an alternative education centre there we find ourselves marooned in the borrowed van on a bleak hilltop rocked by wind and scoured by rain.

As the students disembark from their treacherous ascent up the makeshift track their hopes are cooled with driving rain. The plastic tent in which I am lodged wrestles to be free of its bonds. The floor is strewn with straw which is soaking up the puddles which have gathered in the night. The wind howls and threatens to launch us into flight.

Is this my destiny or an aberration from the past? A case of mistaken identity or a simple error of judgment? An insult or an important message?

These questions struggle for traction as I muster the energy to impart my message. The wind competes with my words or tears at the lopsided flipchart on which I make my marks. The students endure it all the while only breaking their attention occasionally to survey the conditions we have been ordained with.

At lunch the collected students huddle around the stove in the yurt which also serves as a teaching space. The ordeal seems to generate its own charge. Good energy holds the worst of the weather at bay even as the sodden makeshift door lashes out at the nearest person.

By evening, exhausted and drained, we descend from the ordeal, point west and are promptly swallowed by the midlands. A feeling of alienation separates the world into sad parts. People seem to be asleep or waiting to be revived.

The teaching experience begins to make more sense: people are so keen to hear positive information about the basics of survival that they will put up with any amount of hardship to find it out! This is a good sign. Embracing sustainability is about stepping out of The Comfort Zone. This is a scary place because the rules and the boundaries are unclear. A new way of sensing and interpreting the world is needed to survive. This is something a lot of people are now realising.

This notion revives me and allows me to tune into my own survival instincts. Driving in this state of mind is alien even while I marvels at the efficiency of it all. Another part of me is appalled at the speed and recklessness. I imagine walking or cycling to discover this to be a journey I would never make without a car. This makes me feel like a hopeless fool!

I think of the world shrunk to the range of a push bike. Everything slows terrifyingly at the thought. This feels so good its like an affirmation of the earlier feeling that the work I had to do was at Siog.

As if by magic materials and resources have begun to appear thanks to John. A large round bale of straw is stashed under the workshop lean-to and a mixer has also appeared.

Measuring the frame allows me to become reacquainted with it. I am reconnecting with the part of myself which is lodged there. Beauty swims around me and contentment too. I know that I am in the right space at the right time.

Architecture LIVE 2

Architecture LIVE 4