The New Testament

The original blog post thread contains the quote:-

“Our house,” they say, “is a local affair, using the skills of local tradesmen, built with materials sourced from just around the corner. This is the future: it’s simple, straightforward; it’s organic.”

Where has this statement come from? It contains some very bizarre comments.

The ‘Prince of Wales House' has been defined somewhere along the lines as a ‘Natural House’. It is typically mentioned and described as such on a variety of web-sites including: www.princeofwales.gov.uk, www.princes-foundation.org, http://princescharities.org, even the BRE main web-site: www.bre.co.uk and INSITE09 web-site labeled ‘an insight into the future of low carbon and sustainable buildings… showcasing innovative technologies and products’: http://www.insite09.com.

As a very brief summary, the principle concept of ‘natural building’ involves the use of resources: building construction materials together with building occupancy and use energy e.g. Heating, power, lighting etc... being found as close to a building site as possible with sourcing and use involving as minimal as possible processing, ideally being readily even freely-available, naturally occurring and renewable, even some might include reused or recycled. And all with consideration to, site geography, environment, ecology, topography and climate. Even taking into account socio and political aspects.

An examination of say, the materials and products, being used in the ‘Prince of Wales House’ indicates that it involves anything but ‘natural building’.

It would be erroneous to go through the entire construction system, but as an example, aside the picture of what the house will look like with what looks like conventional metal railings and brick pavers outside, there is the classic with the use of solid aerated clay blocks. Were these blocks actually made on site? No, it appears they were supplied by Natural Building Technologies and are a manufactured product called ‘ThermoPlan Ziegel®’, processed made, involving firing, and transportation to site, thus involving, energy use, pollutants such as with emissions etc... thus a CO2 relationship.

And this is a house described in the quotation as ‘a local affair’ and ‘simple and straightforward’. This therefore appears a contradiction of terms.

All sorts of questions can be raised regarding Embodied Energy and the overall LCA (Life Cycle Analysis / Assessment), with various direct and indirect energy inputs and outputs. And it also questions the ‘Low-Carbon’ debate that keeps getting fueled and banded about, though this can be argued as apparently various public and authoritative / government guidelines, directives, legislation etc... define and associate ‘low-carbon’ as having nothing really to do with the cradle to grave approach of actual buildings (with material and product selection, sourcing and construction use), occupation with use and final end-use (e.g. Demolition & recycling) but more related to energy use, heat loss, emissions and the like.

So why the misuse and illiteracy with the terminology regarding ‘Natural Building, by those including the BRE, the latter with whom for many they are typically perceived to be an authority with building and construction with research? Even the Government believes so. Surely a little education would and not go amiss.

The house may indeed be built with local tradesman, unfortunately that’s information I don’t have. It would be an odd one if ‘brought in’ or migrant labour was used such as with the European and Polish example, which would raise issues about a Carbon footprint being left. However ‘materials sourced from just around the corner’ is an extremely dubious statement to make and raises questions about the purpose, meaning of this house and definitions of what are ‘eco’ ‘environmental’ ‘zero carbon’ etc... Even what ‘green’ means in building and the extent it all means and to which it is all applied here.

And then what’s with the word ‘organic’ in the quotation. In building construction ‘organic’ relates to architectural design. The house though is anything but this. ‘Organic’ architecture is a relationship and association between architecture and buildings - their forms and shapes, composition, e.g. Materials, with fittings and furnishings and occupancy and use... being in harmony and sympathetic with their surroundings; the natural world and it’s make-up, life-forms and processes, being part of an integrated and interconnecting, composition - a unified organism which some might even define as growing out of its locality from the ground or earth, evolving from its environment expressive to nature.

So where is this with the ‘Prince of Wales House’? It’s a more manufactured system build typical of what might be perceived conventional architecture, with ‘off-the shelf’ building blocks and elements, such as seen with the manufactured clay blocks. There’s no uniqueness or individual identity in its design. It’s a box that appears been ‘plonked’ on the ground with little consideration to what’s around it, it could look like or resemble any of the typical models commonplace on a housing estate.

It’s astonishing how such glossary of definitions can be wrongly identified, used, and put to a public audience, as in the case with this house.