Wednesday, February 18, 2009

"Medieval" eco-house unveiled in UK


A zero-carbon house that uses 600-year-old medieval building techniques has been unveiled in the UK.

"Crossway", which was designed by architect Richard Hawkes in conjunction with University of Cambridge architects Michael Ramage and Philip Cooper, uses a Catalonian building style first used in medieval Valencia, Spain, called "timbrel vaulting". The design allows the house to absorb large changes in temperature and reduces the need for central heating or air conditioning.

The windows are triple-glazed and insulated with recycled newspaper, and there is a solar heating system and biomass boiler to provide any extra heating. The house also uses locally-sourced materials where possible.

It is hoped that the house could be the prototype for more green homes as renewable energy technologies become cheaper. The UK plans for all new homes to be zero-carbon by 2016.

"The design is cost-effective in that the home is relatively simple to build and, once you know what you're doing, it's quick," Ramage said.

"Many of the costs come from the new technology it uses for energy storage and generation. If those become more widely available, making a similar house cheaply in much larger quantities may be possible."

The house will be shown on Channel 4's Grand Designs tonight.

For a slideshow of images from the house, please click here.

Source: University of Cambridge


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