No chemicals please!

I remember our journeys by boat to Dromineer situated on the shores of Lough Derg in North Tipperary. Note the Castle visible in the background!

Three decades on it is almost entirely taken over by ivy. This is partially because a fence was put around the structure preventing the ivy from being kept down by the grazing of animals.

Ivy, especially when it reaches blossoming maturity, provides some of the largest habitats to a very diverse and immense number of insects. These in turn create important food sources and the thick foliage and stems of the ivy make valuable roosting grounds for birds and bats. As can be expected, they have all now moved into the castle! Whilst the new inhabitants may be having a ball at this moment, the ivy will gradually lead to the destruction of the castle and ultimately neither the castle nor the ivy's inhabitants will survive. So time has come to act. The ivy needs to be removed.

We are told the current solution to removing ivy is the spray application of biocide onto the leaf growth and approximately four weeks later the leaves fall off the vines. What exactly gets killed? Is the plant really dead or just shocked into loosing its leaves? What about the workers who are subjected to the carcinogenic poison during the spray application, and the wind breeze that carries it into the homes of the neighbouring houses? And what about the rich biodiversity living in the ivy? This method doesn't give them time to re-establish gradually elsewhere! No, the poison kills them too, and worse still it enters into our ecology and travels though and up into the food chain coming back to haunt us at a later stage again. There are many studies on the effects these chemicals have on us and our environment and none of these are good. Here are just a few websites which elaborate on what the industry is fighting tooth and nail to disguise:

http://www.pesticidescancer.eu/

http://www.pesticideactionnetwork.net/

http://www.pan-international.org/

www.guarding-our-earth.com/aggrand/roundup.htm

www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46516

Why, after reading all those websites the old method of cutting the ivy at its base and letting it wilt over a couple of seasons might not be such a bad alternative!

Zero Waste Concept

Presently our waste goes into landfill sites. Thank you to Michael of North Tipperary County Council Landfill who gave me a guided tour.

I learnt that the waste gets filled and wrapped in thick membrane material which is welded together. When full it gets closed up and a layer of earth is spread over it.
But the story doesn't end here.

A network of pipes run throughout the waste surfacing at the top as seen in the photograph below. They are the collection points for the accumulated liquid within the waste which is pumped out and brought to the local sewage plant where it is treated. This procedure is continued for the next 30 years after which time nobody knows what state the waste will be in. Needless to say this is disturbing given all the toxic properties of our waste today.

Zero Waste Concepts originate from efforts to reduce defects in the Japanese manufacturing industry. They force attention onto the whole lifecycle of products which encompasses design, waste reduction, reuse and recycling. Approximately 40% of waste generated globally originates from construction and demolition of buildings. So, can the building industry apply Zero Waste strategies? Yes.

In House Extension to the Rear we specified natural, recycled and recyclable materials. They ranged from sheepswool, wood-fibre insulation board, timber, wooden window and door frames to roof waterproofing membrane of a polymer base. We excluded other membranes learning of the benefits of breathable wall systems. Even for the substructure we discovered foam glass gravel, made of recycled glass, which is both structural and insulating and reduces cold bridging.

The result is a high quality building with the bonus of reducing our waste. And as Michael said 'Nobody wants to live beside a landfill!'
For more details see Selected Projects; House Extension to the Rear.

Mock Mansions

The ability to design requires abstraction. It requires that you remove yourself from associations. For example, below is a series of watercolours painted in Georgia O'Keefee Country in New Mexico featured in my book Placing Architecture. They describe a progression, from left to right, of my letting go of what I understood the canyon edge to be until reaching the point when I began to paint purely what I saw.

The reason why I mention my profound experience in New Mexico is because when I view the Irish housing built in the countryside during the last economic boom I think people did not truly see what they were buying or commissioning. I think people see an association, a deep rooted cultural longing for ownership of the Georgian country manor. Look at our cars, their designs have evolved, we don't drive to work nostalgically in a horse drawn carriage? In Irish politics we hear lots about sovereignty. Why can't we as a nation emancipate ourselves with our buildings?

Concrete kills traditional build

My intention in driving up into the Silvermines region in North Tipperary was to gather material on cottage decorations. I was intrigued by previous trips because up until then I had seen cottages as bare essentials - walls, windows, door and roof. But cut off in the heart of the Silvermines the people have decorated their cottages in all sorts of different and appealing ways. Here are just some examples.

           

As I drove deeper and deeper into the region I came across one abandoned house after another; single dwellings, whole farms, schools, even a factory. On one stretch of road I counted over 10 ruins. It was overwhelmingly sad.

Why had entire communities left? Another recession? And if so, why didn't they refurbish them when economic prosperity returned? Mary Ryan from the shop in Kilcommon had some answers. She explained that people built new houses instead and deemed the old to be damp, cold and unusable for modern life.

In my view traditional building techniques had clearly not been understood. Concrete was rendered over the stone walls and because concrete is not a breathable material this causes moisture to be trapped in the houses. Condensation builds up creating a haven for moulds and fungi and soon the house becomes damp and unhealthy to live in.

I find these old buildings beautiful. They have lovely proportions, materials that age gracefully and are usually sensitively set into the landscape. So why not marry the old ways with the new. By understanding the traditional buildings techniques, breathable lime mortars, principles of ventilation, natural materials, these buildings could be revitalised. With new extensions added modern spacial requirements can be fulfilled making the best of both worlds - the old and the new.

Here is an example of how an old cottage can be given a new lease of life. It is located near Upperchurch and was recently completed for the Challen & Ryan family by the architects O'Neill Consulting.

 

The Office

To start the New Year and before I comment on more architectural highlights in our environs, I would like to introduce you to our office; a large open-plan space of seventy square meters creating a vibrant working atmosphere with views over Lough Derg and most importantly a coffee station in the middle!

Charity Swim

Congratulations to the organizers, supporters and many swimmers today who jumped into the Shannon at Youghal Quay in aid of  TLC4CF (Tipperary Limerick Clare for Cystic Fibrosis). Frozen toes after the swim was the only suffering we had to bear.

Merry Christmas & St Carthages Church

As the winter solstice occurs, I welcome you to the first lines of my blog. To begin with I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and the very best for the coming year.

In tune with this festive season I want to tell you about a beautifully restored church I visited in Brosna, Co. Kerry. The visit was uplifting. The unusual thing was that all the materials were spot on! In a country full of plastic windows and everything covered in concrete from head to toe, here natural materials were chosen that complimented the old. Thick solid wooden doors lead you inside. Terracotta tiles on the floor blend in with their natural patina warmed by underfloor heating. Touching the mortar on the walls, dusty particles remain on the finger tips proving that traditional lime mortar techniques were used, allowing the church walls to breath again.

Noel Lane, one of the participants in this major restoration project, showed a group of us around. This project was an example of repairing the damage that had been done to this building by previous modernisations. None of this was by coincidence. Clear, strong decisions had been made to make this space comfortable and joyful again. Great time and effort had obviously been given to selecting each and every material. However, the most revealing information of our tour was that the project was driven by the community. Well done for choosing quality which will hopefully last a long time and be enjoyed by many.

Photographs by Noel Lane