Global Warming, Local Wetting

Perhaps in this part of the world, the Irish nortwest, the effects of climate change should be referred to a ‘local wetting’ rather than global warming. Generally the ground is waterlogged and wellies and raingear are the height of fashion. The local farmers are already concerned about winter fodder for their animals. The normal harvest cycle has been thrown into disarray by regular downpours which are more like monsoon rains rather than our usual local showers. Also, there is a definite autumnal vibration in the air though when the sun does manage to break through it is fierce and insistent.

All of this is hampering progress on the EconoSpace Project. While the peter posts and floor beams lie waiting under cover the foundation strips are looking a little too low to the ground for comfort. Even with a good 350mm clearance to the underside of the suspended floor my instinct is to push the building higher by at least another 150mm. This means importing another load of stone to build up the foundation strips by that amount. As luck or providence would have it my stone supplier is on holidays and we will have to wait at least ten days to obtain the necessary supplies. This pause is providing a useful space which I am occupying with reflection and observation. The reflection is encouraging me to winterise – to prepare the EconoSpace Office/Workshop for the onslaught of wind and rain ahead. This is supported by observation of what is happening in the UK as I write – severe rainfall and consequent flooding.

My neighbour Tommy paid a visit the other day to examine my alternative energy system and pointed out, from his knowledge of this field, that the location of the art studio ‘floods’, something which he had mentioned to me in passing before. This was not as alarming as it might first appear – he simply meant that there was a tendency for rainwater to gather at that location and for it to pond because it could not soak away due to the deep substrate of clay which characterises this area. I had become aware of this independently and had constructed a pond to encourage drainage, siphoning the collected water to the nearby stream. My feeling now though is that was common in the past will be overshadowed by future events. This will probably come in the form of wind and rain which will fall in unseasonable amounts and quite possibly cause some flooding in this area.

So, I am going to take heed of this caution and build up my foundation strips by a good six to eight inches more. This will allow a clear 600mm or two feet to the underside of the suspended insulated floor. Having to wait for the stone delivery to put this plan in action and wrestling with the incessant rain is naturally slowing everything down. I am of a mind to put everything on hold until the spring and then push forward. This is hard where I have set myself a ‘goal’ even though this was arbitrary and probably a little ambitious in the first place. This is a good example of the changes being suggested by climate change reality. Should we just push on in the face of it or should we listen? Pushing on suggests that we will prevail, listening suggests that we must change.

Change is one of the hardest things for people to initiate. Usually some dire event or circumstance will set the mechanics of change in motion and we must resign ourselves to being changed rather than taking the initiative and changing ourselves. This is a cop out and consigns us to the back foot, labelling us as victims rather than as instigators. To position oneself as an instigator is to make a stand, to place oneself outside of the norm of delusion. This is no easy place to be if only because people oftentimes want to challenge such positioning in order to bolster their own denial levels.

The work being carried out in the United States in the areas of natural building, permaculture and the formation of community is currently being founded on clear efforts at raising consciousness. This approach considers that practical solutions for sustainable living are already in place and that now it is a matter of people shifting their consciousness in order to embrace this new way of life. This requires an emotional leap, a stepping outside of the norm. This is the greatest challenge facing those currently locked into ‘the system’.

My own instincts now are to focus to the ‘consciousness’ aspects of sheltermaking and to parallel this with continuing work on the EcooSpace Project. Rational thinking had me following the apparently obvious design-construction sequence. What is now becoming clear is the need to backtrack, to lay a foundation for practical/material action based on strong emotional/life dynamics. This is the inside/outside story articulated by architecture which I have referred to in earlier blog entries and in articles available on the website.

The Living Architecture HeadSpace, pictured above and below, will be the vehicle for these explorations. This is a 1:6 model of the Actual House which allows one to experience the inner/outer connections that are forged when we create architecture. This will be on public display at the Dock Arts Centre, Carrick on Shannon, Co. Leitrim from Friday August 17th to Sunday August 19th.

The Sleepers

Getting out of the ground is something of a relief. The stone filled trenches, compacted and levelled, can now receive the sleepers which will support the weight of the building. The floor structure will rest on these sleepers and be fixed to them creating a sort of giant raft. This will ‘float’ around 450mm or 18″ above the surface of the field so, should I be inundated with water as a consequence of climate change, I can sit and contemplate the best course of action. As the floor itself will contain 300mm or 1 foot of insulation the water would have to rise a full 750mm or two and a half feet to get inside.

As I write, incessant rain is cascading down in unseasonal amounts. If it were not for the long days one would suspect that it was autumn. Perhaps the Irish obsession with talking about the weather will now awaken the national consciousness to what is actually happening!

For our part we now need a few weeks clear weather to get the structure up and the roof on. After that we can continue work relatively protected. We are currently completing the last of the Peter Posts under the lean-to. The jig is indeed proving its worth – we can turn out a post in around 20 minutes. Floor beams are also being made – these take around 15 minutes each. Our slow preparation time is now paying us back one hundred fold!

Grave Imaginings

Who would have imagined that digging foundation trenches would touch our sense of mortality so deeply? Is this because we usually bury our dead in the ground? Or because scrabbling in the earth brings us face to face with our own substance? I suppose it hardly matters what the reason is. What’s important is to plunge into the feeling and to extract some meaning from the encounter.

Building anything habitable will always stir deep emotions. These oftentimes mount a threat against our sense of security, leaving us howling at the moon or curled up in the full foetal. None of this is bad, merely an indication that ultimately we will die and return to the earth in the age old tradition of natural recycling. Why building work – particularly the laying of foundations – carries such philosophical weight is something of a mystery. Perhaps it is because habitable buildings offer such potentiality for living that the chemistry is activated to such an extent. This, I think, is where we come face to face with our own destinies and are challenged to live the lives we have been graced with. It’s not so much that we fear death but that we fear living.

That buildings can assist us in living our lives might be something of a truism but the truth is that most buildings, particularly the ones we inhabit, are rarely fashioned to accommodate our uniqueness. The ‘one size fits all’ approach to house design is as absurd as the idea that everyone might fit into a single size of glove or shoe. So, possibly, as the foundations of a building are laid we are confronted not so much by the shadow of death but by the bright light of our own potentiality dazzling us?