Ksenia P-N: Flat House Material Study

Flat House

PRACTICE ARCHITECTURE + MATERIAL CULTURES

Proctor, Oskar. Hemp Is Used on Interior and Exterior of Zero-Carbon Flat House in Cambridgeshire, 9 Jan. 2020, www.dezeen.com/2020/01/09/flat-house-hempcrete-practice-archi-

MARCH 07 2024

CAMBRIDGESHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM

AREA: 100 m2

2019

KSENIA PAUCH-NOLIN 73402380

DES 232 | ASSIGNMENT 02: PROJECT CASE STUDY | UBC SALA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Proctor, Oskar. Hemp Is Used on Interior and Exterior of Zero-Carbon Flat House in Cambridgeshire, 9 Jan. 2020, www.dezeen.com/2020/01/09/ flat-house-hempcrete-practice-architecture-margent-farm/.

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THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE PROJECT

LOCATION

MATERIALITY, FABRICATION AND CONSTRUCTION

MATERIAL SOURCE DIAGRAM

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OPINION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE PROJECT MATERIAL CULTURES

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

(Beatrice Galilee)

PRACTICE ARCHITECTURE

(Agnese Sanvito)

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (Anthony Fox)

STEVE BARRON

EX. FILM DIRECTOR TURNED HEMP FARMER Flat House was first commissioned by Steve Barron, who is an ex-film director turned hemp farmer, who had originally dreamed up the idea of turning his own crops into a home. Barron commissioned Practice Architecture to create this home, and the result was a low-carbon, sustainably sourced home, that was “grown” on his farm. After the project, the organization “Material Cultures” was established, an organization that specializes in the research of the use hemp for architecture, as well as scaling up the project to be a developed system for the broder market.1 1

(Hemp is used on the inside and out of Cambridgeshire’s Flat House)

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LOCATION

SITE PLAN

“Flat House”, designed by Practice Architecture and Material Cultures is a 100m2 offgrid house located in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom on Margent Farm. Margent Farm is a R+D facility, which develops bioplastics with hemp and flax. The site of the home is built on an old cattle yard, and also hosts a hemp farm. Hemp was used for the house with the intention of replacing plastic and plastic waste, and being an eco-friendly alternative for the use of plastic and other non-organic materials.1 1

(Proctor, Hemp Is Used on Interior and Exterior of Zero-Carbon Flat House in Cambridgeshire)

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GROUND FLOOR PLAN

FLOOR PLANS

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

Gormley, Paloma. “Flat House Diagrams,” Architects’ Journal, 2020, www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/from-farm-toform-flat-house-by-practice-architecture-2.

Proctor, Oskar. Hemp Is Used on Interior and Exterior of Zero-Carbon Flat House in Cambridgeshire, 9 Jan. 2020, www.dezeen.com/2020/01/09/flathouse-hempcrete-practice-architecture-margent-farm/.

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Images Sourced From: Proctor, Oskar. Hemp Is Used on Interior and Exterior of Zero-Carbon Flat House in Cambridgeshire, 9 Jan. 2020, www.dezeen.com/2020/01/09/

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MATERIALITY, FABRICATION AND CONSTRUCTION WALL SECTION

Flat House is made up of almost entirely sustainably-sourced, raw materials. The architect’s designed the house with the intention of generating a low-carbon design. Hemp was used for the house with the intention of replacing plastic and plastic waste, and being an eco-friendly alternative for the use of plastic and other non-organic materials.1 The house is made of primarily hemp and hemp by-products, all of which is sourced from the farm. The home also uses solar power. The house is made up of a 4ft by 8ft panelized system that uses uses timber I-joists with a hempcrete infill. These panels were constructed off site, due to the fact that hemp construction is limited by seasons, and cannot be casted outdoors in the wintertime. The panels are produced and dried off-site, that way the production of the panels can occur year-round.2 The most notable feature of the interior is the exposed hempcrete—a mix of hemp shiv (the chopped up, woody core of the plant) and lime. The exterior of the hemp plant was also utilized, as the fiber from the outside of the hemp plant was used for the walls.

On the exterior, bass fiber was used to make a rain screen on the outside of the house. There is also a layer of Steico Woodfibre insulation that forms a wooly coat over the structure beneath the cladding. The house breathes, allowing moisture to pass through the wall freely and removing the need for membranes. The house also has an attached glass house, which fully heats itself.3 1 2 3

(“Practice Architecture | Flat House”) (“The House That Hemp Made – Film Director Steve Barron’s Margent Farm”) (From farm to form: Flat house by Practice Architecture)

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SECTION A-A

AXONOMETRIC VIEW

SECTION B-B Proctor, Oskar. Hemp Is Used on Interior and Exterior of Zero-Carbon Flat House in Cambridgeshire, 9 Jan. 2020, www.dezeen.com/2020/01/09/flat-house-hempcrete-practice-archiDiagrams Source: Gormley, Paloma. “Flat House Diagrams,” Architects’ Journal, 2020, www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/from-farm-to-form-flat-house-by-practice-architecture-2.

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OPINION

Proctor, Oskar. Hemp Is Used on Interior and Exterior of Zero-Carbon Flat House in Cambridgeshire, 9 Jan. 2020, www.dezeen.com/2020/01/09/flat-house-hemcrete-practice-architecture-margent-farm/.

Flat House is a brilliant step in the right direction for the way in which we design our homes in the future. The premise behind using whats accessible on the land for our designs shows a promising future for our planet and the way we design our homes, by generating not only eco-friendly solutions to making homes, but is also a solution for quickly-built, affordable housing. I think that while hemp may not be an accessible crop/material for all climates, the premise of using local crops and naturally-sourced materials to build homes in various areas is a very promising idea that could work globally, in creating a future where our homes have a very-low environmental impact, and provide affordable housing solutions, which could move us towards a future of housing shortages being a thing of the past.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Proctor, Oskar. Hemp Is Used on Interior and Exterior of Zero-Carbon Flat House in Cambridgeshire, 9 Jan. 2020, www.dezeen.com/2020/01/09/flat-house-hecretepractice-architecture-margent-farm/.

AL Circle. “Top Bauxite Exporters from Africa: Guinea Remains the Leading Bauxite Supplier While China Drives the Export.” Alcircle, 6 July 2018, www.alcircle.com/news/top-bauxite-exporters-from-africa-guinea-remains-the-leading-bauxite-supplier-while-china-drives-the-export-31764#:~:text=Guinea%20is%20the%20most%20significant. Accessed 7 Mar. 2024.

Aluminum Federation. UK Aluminium Industry Fact Sheet 17 : Primary Aluminium Production Primary Aluminium Production UK Aluminium Industry Fact Sheet 17 +44(0)121 601 6363 Www.alfed.org.uk UK Aluminium Industry Fact Sheet 17 : Primary Aluminium Production.

Anthony Fox, Mark. “At Home with a Filmmaker-Turned-Hemp-Grower in the Cambridgeshire Countryside,” House & Garden, 7 June 2023, www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/steve-barron-margent-farm. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024.

Canada, Natural Resources. “Aluminum Facts.” Natural-Resources.canada.ca, 19 Jan. 2018, natural-resources.canada.ca/our-natural-resources/minerals-mining/mining-data-statistics-and-analysis/minerals-metals-facts/ aluminum-facts/20510#.

“Daily Metal Price: Aluminum Price Chart (USD / Pound) for the Last Year.” Www.dailymetalprice.com, 6 Mar. 2024, www.dailymetalprice.com/metalpricecharts.php?c=al&u=lb&d=240.

Galilee, Beatrice. “Young Architects in Action #2: Practice Architecture.” Www.domusweb.it, 13 Aug. 2012, www.domusweb.it/en/architecture/2012/08/13/young-architects-in-action-2-practice-architecture.html.

Gormley, Paloma. “Flat House Diagrams,” Architects’ Journal, 2020, www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/from-farm-to-form-flat-house-by-practice-architecture-2. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024.

Government of Alberta. “Agriculture and Forestry.” Gov.ab.ca, 2019, www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/.

Levy, Natasha. “Hemp Is Used on the inside and out of Cambridgeshire’s Flat House.” Dezeen, JP/Politiken Media Group, 9 Jan. 2020, www.dezeen.com/2020/01/09/flat-house-hempcrete-practice-architecture-margent-farm/.

Moore, Rowan. “Flat House Review – a Home Made from Hemp That Will Blow Your Mind.” The Guardian, 7 Dec. 2019, www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/dec/07/flat-house-margent-farm-cambridgeshire-hemp-practice-architecture-carbon-energy.

“Practice Architecture | Flat House.” Practice Architecture, 2020, practicearchitecture.co.uk/project/flat-house/.

Proctor, Oskar. Hemp Is Used on Interior and Exterior of Zero-Carbon Flat House in Cambridgeshire, 9 Jan. 2020, www.dezeen.com/2020/01/09/flat-house-hempcrete-practice-architecture-margent-farm/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024.

---. “Material Cultures.” Material Cultures, 2020, materialcultures.org/flat-house/.

Sanvito, Agnese. “Materials Library: Material Cultures,” Architecture Today, architecturetoday.co.uk/materials-library-material-cultures/.

Stephenson, Jim, and Edward Bishop. “Margent Farm for the Modern House,” The Modern House, 2021, www.themodernhouse.com/journal/margent-farm-steve-barron-practice-architecture/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024.

“The House That Hemp Made – Film Director Steve Barron’s Margent Farm.” Www.youtube.com, The Modern House, 24 May 2021, youtu.be/c2RJ1asZGWo?si=TbzTCme1rIDL7b7x. Accessed 5 Mar. 2024.

“The Process of Timber Manufacturing.” Sculptform, 8 Apr. 2021, sculptform.com/blogs/the-process-of-timber-manufacturing/#:~:text=The%20process%20starts%20with%20logging.

“The World of Glass – Glass Alliance.” Glass Alliance Europe, glassallianceeurope.eu/the-world-of-glass/#:~:text=Glass%20is%20a%20solid%2Dlike.

“Where Is Steel Made in Europe?” Www.eurofer.eu, 2024, www.eurofer.eu/about-steel/learn-about-steel/where-is-steel-made-in-europe.

Wilson, Rob. “From Farm to Form: Flat House by Practice Architecture.” The Architects’ Journal, 22 June 2020, www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/from-farm-to-form-flat-house-by-practice-architecture-2.

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