Interested in natural building?
MEARU (Mackintosh Environmental Architecture Research Unit) and GSA Sustainability have teamed up with The School of Natural Building for four one-day theory sessions to learn more about natural building, designing and building with materials such as STRAW, CLAY and LIME!
Wed 6 May
Preparing to Build with Bales
• Finding land
•Managing all stages of the build, the money and the resources
•Learning from a straw bale build case study
•How to obtain green mortgages and insurance
•The increasing importance of community land trusts and cohousing
GSASustainability will cover most of the costs for two students to attend each session. The selected students will pay £10 per session.
If you are interested in these theory sessions for learning about natural building please email John at j.thorne@gsa.ac.uk indicating in order of preference which courses you're
Thurs 7 May
Design Your Straw Bale Building
•A brief history of straw bale building
•How to identify good building bales
•Learn how to design with the bale in mind
•Hear about strawbale panels for prefabricated and modular buildings
•Learn how to customise and ‘dress’ bales on site
•Understand where to locate posts for framework buildings
interested in attending along with a short explanation of why you would like to attend
Entries to be in by 5pm Mon 20th April
Look forward to hearing from you! John Thorne and Janice Foster
Wed 13 May
Technical Details
•Natural foundations that can save you £££s
•Plinth walls and foundations – what’s the difference?
•Airtight doors and windows without expensive tapes
•Weather protection and the importance of drip edges
•How do I attach wall cupboards and sockets to straw walls?
•Compression for loadbearing and infill
•How do I build the roof first on my load bearing building?
•Prefabrication developments
Thurs 14 May
Intro to Natural Plasters & Renders
• Healthy indoor air quality
• Humidity regulation - say goodbye to mould and condensation
• Historical precedents –plasters that last
• The natural cycle of lime
• How and why lime works better than cement
• Making clay plasters from earth
• Realistic costs
