This is an event space built in Bleddfa, a small village in Wales, UK. It is inside an art centre that exhibits sustainable-themed works. The building is semi-underground and integrated into the landscape, using the natural materials of local soil and straw bales. It is characterised by straw benches, round doors, and slanted windows. An earthen wall spirals towards the sky in the middle of a grassy hill, allowing people to enter inside and climb up to the roof.
The earthen wall curving towards the roof is made of straw bales stacked between wooden panels and curved with rebar, bamboo and mesh. The walls were then covered by hand with local earth mixed with lime. The local grass was cut, cured, and put on the roof. Several students and volunteers took part in the project, and the work was carried out jointly by Japanese carpenters, plasterers, and local builders.
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© Ph. The Bleddfa Centre (except different attribution on single image ) / Drawings, Tono Mirai architects
Architecture integrated into the landscape / Community building / Craftsmanship / Curved earthen walls / Earthen walls / Environmentally symbiotic architecture / Natural materials / Not to bring in, not to take out / Sakan (plasterer) / Shikkui (Japanese plaster) / Straw walls / Sustainability / Thatching
Category — Event space
Construction Period — June-August 2001
Building Area — 19.8 ㎡
Total Floor Area — 18.2 ㎡
Floor number — 1st floor above ground
Structure — Wooden construction, straw bale