Earth Farmhouse / Studio Verge
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Earth Farmhouse / Studio Verge
Text description provided by the architects. This farmhouse is perched in the southeast corner of a 2-acre farmland flanked by a stream to the south, cultivated farmland to the north and a majestic forest view, downhill towards the west.
A central studio space with an attached pantry and toilet forms the core area of the layout, paired with a bedroom and toilet suite linked using a wedged verandah space for outdoor living space. The verandah envelopes around the studio allow for future expansion of the layout with further addition of bedroom suites. The wedged plan of the house looks to capture the tranquil view of the reserve forest beyond and create shaded outdoor living pockets to spend time outdoors rather than indoors, given the natural setting.
The material palette: loadbearing stone foundations, structural rammed earth walls and mud-plastered brick infill panels with a steel framed tile roof dictated floor plan sizing and layout possibilities. The rammed earth walls are in 4’ and 6’ modules for ease of ramming, lifting, and shifting of formwork also based on the optimization of plywood sheets used for shuttering frames. Minimal concrete has been used in the form of two structural ring beams tying the rammed earth panels at plinth and lintel levels. Brickwork has been selectively used in wet areas for concealing plumbing lines and tiling, below window sill levels for concealed electrical conducting and around door frames to ensure ease of anchoring.
All the earth used in the construction was excavated in situ, during the process of watershed management and the creation of a pond for storage of rainwater runoff. The site itself has been landscaped with a series of berms and swales to ensure curtailing of stormwater runoff and erosion of valuable topsoil. Planting plans revolve around three separate pockets, a garden around the house, a food forest and a farm. Recycled materials such as beverage bottles in the bathroom walls for skylights, discarded metal cycle wheel axils in the protective grills for doors and windows and broken tile chips as china mosaic inserts in the local stone flooring add details and color to the project.
This project strives to make earth construction palpable for a general audience keeping in mind maintenance and durability. Features such as tiled walls in the toilets ensure easy cleaning, concealed electrical conducting protecting against the prevalent mice menace and stone foundations with an isolating band in concrete at the plinth level protecting against termites in earth walls ensure easy long-term upkeep of this structure.
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