Monthly Archives: January 2010

Building with cob

As a renewable, sustainable building material cob is a favoured option in green building circles. What is cob? Cob is an ancient earth building technique which uses a combination of earth, straw, sand and water. These ingredients can be mixed together by hand, using tarps, or by machinery. The mix is formed into lumps or [...]
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Inspiration from images #2 – flights of fancy

I get a lot of inspiration from images – if interpreted literally, these are beyond what I want, need or can aim to achieve. However, they have elements that appeal: If you liked that post, then try these...Boat house on November 25th, 2011Sod roofs! on April 1st, 2011Mudgee Permanent Camping project on January 31st, 2011A [...]
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…much as you would try out a new Swiss army knife

There is something about a minimised, multifunctional interior that really appeals to me: We stow away our picnic … in a cupboard above the tiny dining table that is also our desk, which is in turn the hinged cover to the wash basin. Life in a sleeping car is a miniature tightly organised affair, like [...]
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Alexanders Pattern Language

Another stream of design inspiration and one that I’ve previously used is Alexanders Pattern Language ['A Pattern Language - Towns Buildings Construction by Alexander, Ishikawa & Silverstein' review on MyBarnConversion.com]. I’d applied this catalogue of patterns somewhat retrospectively when working on my barn conversion project but this is a great opportunity to use selected patterns [...]
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Inspiration from images #1 – rural

I get a lot of inspiration from images, these are relatively rural and (that overused word that can hide a multitude of sins) rustic: If you liked that post, then try these...Boat house on November 25th, 2011Sod roofs! on April 1st, 2011Mudgee Permanent Camping project on January 31st, 2011A tower of my own on January [...]
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