A Friends of Dartington Event
Robert Somerville will give a talk entitled
......earth, stone, oak & lime...... in the Upper Gatehouse, Main Courtyard, Dartington Hall at 7.30pm, Tuesday 25th January 2011 Robert Somerville will be describing to us, with the aid of photos and real samples, the qualities and benefits of using natural building materials and traditional craft construction techniques in the creation of longlasting, ecologically sound, low embodied energy, and deeply satisfying buildings. It is rewarding both for those who work the natural materials in constructing these buildings and for those who live in them, adapt them and continue to enhance them throughout their subsequent life. Robert will also outline some of the plans for Schumacher College to start soon a range of new courses in ecological design and construction.
Robert Somerville enjoyed a conventional training i n b o t h a rc h i t e c t u re a n d b u i l d i n g t e c h n o l o g y a n d subsequently worked as a building surveyor for two of the London Boroughs in the 1980s. However his love of the English countryside, which began as a child on a fruit farm in Kent, led him to volunteer at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum in Sussex . It was there that he experienced the sights, smells, sounds and joys of traditional construction using local natural materials. For the last 20 years Robert has lived in South Devon, working alongside skilled craftspeople as a designer and builder‌and being part of the renaissance of the use and understanding of traditional building materials in the U.K. Robert is design director of Earth, Oak & Lime Ltd which has carried out a range of building and restoration projects in the South West and he has recently joined the staff team at Schumacher College where he is working with Jon Rae to design, establish and run a new range of vocational courses on ecological design, build and refurbishment. Tickets for this talk are £3.50 each to members of the Friends of Dartington and £5 each to non-members. Tickets will be sold on the door from 7.00pm before the talk. As usual the ticket price includes a glass of wine or fruit juice in the West Wing Lounge after the talk.