House Design Online

DIY Ecobuilding courses at the Living Architecture Centre Ireland

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

We get frequent requests here at House Design Online for Free House Plans. OK, reality is that if you are looking for something  cheap on the internet, you will get just that something cheap! At  House Design Online we want to promote the idea of people taking control of the design of their own homes. By engaging in the design proccess, you are saving  money but you are also ensuring a higher standard for your build.

There are a few sites out there however that offer “Free House Plans”. One such Stie is FREE GREEN House Plans.

The Beauty of Free Green House Plans is that they offer  different options. They have 1,000′s of professionally designed ecological House Plans available for Free. The Free House Plans are sponsored. This is in fact a useful service. It just means that by clicking on any product such as furniture, accessories, building materials – you can find out the name of the supplier. There is a discount arrangement if you chose to purchase any of these products but absolutely no obligation to purchase.  They then also have a premium facility where for a nominal membership fee, home owners of architects can download unlimited plans.

Free Green is an “Open Source”  venture with benefits to both home owners and people in the design community. Most importantly Free Green promotes the best practivce in ecologiacl architecture

FOR MORE INFORMATION – CLICK HERE

Hemp Symposium, Kenmare, Ireland 2009

The site has recently been updated with new information on the speakers giving presentations at the Symposium.

The Symposium will offer a broad insight into the wide ranging possibilities of the Hemp Building

system and the contribution hemp materials can make to the world of Low carbon and Natural building.

As we search for ways of reducing our CO2 emissions and addressing the issues of energy peak and food security, Hemp is proving it has a lot to offer to the production of resources.

The 1st International Hemp Building Symposium will highlight the innovative ways in which hemp materials can be used to make Hemp Fibre insulation, Hempcrete made of Hemp-lime or Hemp-clay, and Hemp Plasters, together with the design, construction and the lifestyle benefits of living in such buildings.

16-18th September 2009 in Kenmare Bay Hotel, Kenmare. Co. Kerry, Ireland.

• Presentations

• Talks

• Demonstration

• Q & A Sessions

• Displays

• Networking & Education

For More information – click on picture below

For more information - click here

A new Social Housing project in Dublin, Ireland is applying rainwater harvesting, solar panels, sheep’s wool insulation and using on-site communal composting as part of a new initiative by Dublin City Council to provide sustainable social housing and replace the homes originally on the site which were demolished in 2005.

In addition, much of the timber from the old apartments was recycled and used again in construction, while two previously used Georgian doors create an archway into the central garden area. Twelve stainless steel water casks are used to collect rain water in the courtyard, while large amounts of sheep wool are inserted into the external walls to provide added insulation.

The energy-saving features are expected to reduce fuel costs by up to 70 per cent and cut CO2 emissions by over 50 per cent.

Read the full article in TODAY’S IRISH TIMES

Hemp Lime Construction – Public Talk with Professor Tom Woolley

Eco Minimalist Houses and Building Using Natural Materials

Another in an interesting series of talks by the Cultivate Centre takes place at the Cultivate Centre on Monday evening, June 8th 2009.

Professor Tom Woolley who is a professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of the Environment at the  Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales will deliver a public talk entitled “Eco Minimalist Houses and Building using Natural Materials”.

Hemp lime is a composite construction material that can be used for walls, insulation of roofs and floors and as part of timber-framed buildings. It provides very good thermal and acoustic performance, and offers a genuinely zero-carbon contribution to sustainable construction. Hemp masonry is breathable and is able to absorb and emit moisture, leading to much healthier buildings. This talk explores the current and potential uses of hemp lime in Ireland today.

For more information please click here

House Design Online has launched a new service “Outside the Box TV”. As the page title suggests, we want to suggest ways to think outside the box when it comes to “design” and “architecture”. Many of the homes that we live in are no more than boxes, whose primary function is to contain us, supply us with bedding, water, food processing and sanitation. Of course there are many who lack even these essential elements but our homes, no matter how basic have many other roles which have been neglected in modern architecture.

Out of the Box TV features video clips of innovative green architecture and sustainable building design. The clips are from around the world.

Oustide the Box features Ireland’s first EcoVillage which is under development at Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary as well as some of the work of architects Peter Cowman, Joachim Mitchell and others who are challenging the preceptions of modern architecture.

for more click here OUTSIDE THE BOX

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Going Green without Compromise

House Design Online is delighted to welcome another new addition to the online community for green architecture.

The Green Palette provides an “Architectural Information Centre”  where green architects can post details of their “Green Projects”.

The Site will ultimately act as a networking site for green architects.

Presently the site offers a portfolio of some excellent green architecture projects and a facility for green architects to upload details of their projects to the green projects gallery.

These very innovation green projects are mainly based in the United States of America at present but there is a facility for green architects anywhere in the world to upload.

For more information CLICK HERE