Vauxhall City Farm – Story Telling Benches
WHO
Vauxhall City Farm
THE BRIEF
The Ecology garden at VCF faced stiff competition for land and VCF resources from areas where animals were more popular and therefore more important to visitors and staff.
To change the role of the Ecology Garden in relation to the farm by:
• Repairing to existing Rain Temple
• Clearing the site of rubbish
• Engaging community
THE OUTPUTS
We designed the repair and rebuild programmed to allow maximum engagement and participation and use of unwanted materials / rubbish on the farm.
Removal of cement from benches.
Repair to foundation, reinstatement of rammed earth tires as stem wall.
Cob made and used to create benches
Tree cuts embedded in cob as seating
Sculpted figures made Earthern floor laid
Site cleared and ‘rubbish’ used to help build the structure
The project was successful in its use of community whose work to create a beautiful space helped re- balance the role ecology at the farm. The area now serves to celebrate the unsung heroes of ecology; the worms and insects and beetles that this area of the farm wanted to include in its educational activities.
THE OUTCOMES:
• We engaged Young Farmers to design and produce 3D models for the new area, to be inspired by the ecology garden
• We worked with first time young offences to remove the concrete from structure. This group gained news skills and a heightened self-esteem, learning new skills and leaving a positive impact on the Farm. The team leader said, “what ever you are doing, keep doing it. I’ve never seen them so happy”.
• We engaged with HSBC, RICS and John Lewis corporate teams to make cob and clear the site. Their involvement helped fund the project and progress work. For many, this was the first time they had each worked as a team with different departments of and hierarchies within an organisation. 75% of respondents to our survey said the project exceeded their expectations. One said, “It felt like we were really making a difference” (HSBC); another said “Best day in ages – it was very inspiring to learn how to make building materials from very simple materials” (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors).
• Local Muslim groups worked with representatives from the local church and the project even had a visit from the then Archbishop of Canterbury. The day left a lasting impression. TECHNICAL
The bench was in a bad state of repair because cement had been used to cover the rammed earth tires foundation. The cement trapped moisture and water into the structure, causing the surfaces to crack. By replacing concrete with cob, moisture from ground and the rammed tires was able to evaporate into the atmosphere.
Approx. two tonnes of sharp sand, ¾-1 tonne of London clay and a lot of recycled straw were used We conducted numerous tests to determine materials found on the farm for use as renders - hair from llama, horse, alpaca, and manure from horse, cow and chicken.
Use of these materials on the bench was scrapped because of fears that some city farms were being closed due to outbreaks of e-Coli.
We opted linseed thinned with turpentine to cover the cob benches. Our initial choice of citronella as a thinner, was also scrapped because this this acts as an insect / bugs deterrent The linseed took a long time to dry.
The structure was part funded by SITA and completed over four months.
Vauxhall City Farm
THE BRIEF
The Ecology garden at VCF faced stiff competition for land and VCF resources from areas where animals were more popular and therefore more important to visitors and staff.
To change the role of the Ecology Garden in relation to the farm by:
• Repairing to existing Rain Temple
• Clearing the site of rubbish
• Engaging community
THE OUTPUTS
We designed the repair and rebuild programmed to allow maximum engagement and participation and use of unwanted materials / rubbish on the farm.
Removal of cement from benches.
Repair to foundation, reinstatement of rammed earth tires as stem wall.
Cob made and used to create benches
Tree cuts embedded in cob as seating
Sculpted figures made Earthern floor laid
Site cleared and ‘rubbish’ used to help build the structure
The project was successful in its use of community whose work to create a beautiful space helped re- balance the role ecology at the farm. The area now serves to celebrate the unsung heroes of ecology; the worms and insects and beetles that this area of the farm wanted to include in its educational activities.
THE OUTCOMES:
• We engaged Young Farmers to design and produce 3D models for the new area, to be inspired by the ecology garden
• We worked with first time young offences to remove the concrete from structure. This group gained news skills and a heightened self-esteem, learning new skills and leaving a positive impact on the Farm. The team leader said, “what ever you are doing, keep doing it. I’ve never seen them so happy”.
• We engaged with HSBC, RICS and John Lewis corporate teams to make cob and clear the site. Their involvement helped fund the project and progress work. For many, this was the first time they had each worked as a team with different departments of and hierarchies within an organisation. 75% of respondents to our survey said the project exceeded their expectations. One said, “It felt like we were really making a difference” (HSBC); another said “Best day in ages – it was very inspiring to learn how to make building materials from very simple materials” (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors).
• Local Muslim groups worked with representatives from the local church and the project even had a visit from the then Archbishop of Canterbury. The day left a lasting impression. TECHNICAL
The bench was in a bad state of repair because cement had been used to cover the rammed earth tires foundation. The cement trapped moisture and water into the structure, causing the surfaces to crack. By replacing concrete with cob, moisture from ground and the rammed tires was able to evaporate into the atmosphere.
Approx. two tonnes of sharp sand, ¾-1 tonne of London clay and a lot of recycled straw were used We conducted numerous tests to determine materials found on the farm for use as renders - hair from llama, horse, alpaca, and manure from horse, cow and chicken.
Use of these materials on the bench was scrapped because of fears that some city farms were being closed due to outbreaks of e-Coli.
We opted linseed thinned with turpentine to cover the cob benches. Our initial choice of citronella as a thinner, was also scrapped because this this acts as an insect / bugs deterrent The linseed took a long time to dry.
The structure was part funded by SITA and completed over four months.
The Gaia Gallery – Permaculture & Arts Narrowboat
WHO
The Gaia Gallery
THE BRIEF
To assist build the first off-grid, touring permaculture workshop and event space in the world, including a heated cob bench, fired by a rocket stove aboard a London barge, earthern walls and treatment to cob in high water areas.
THE OUTPUTS
To oversee and project manage cob making and cob renovation of the interior of the space.
To conduct the build in a way that involved community groups through a series of public courses.
To organize training on rocket stove heaters and together with the cob work, and help the project develop its network of people with skills in cob making and rocket stove builds to assist in the completion of the project.
To offer courses in natural material building and permaculture and bring their marriage to the attention of many Londoners for the first time.
THE OUTCOME
Cob in the Community organised multiple cob building weekends that attracted and engaged a number of diverse groups including SOAS Radical Architects, Bow River Farm, The London Permaculture Network, Meadow Forge, Public Works, Community ReLeaf and many more over multiple weekends.
The courses helped raise awareness of rocket stoves as an alternative high efficient heating systems that burns very little wood at high temperature and produces little - no smoke. Participants came away with skills to build their one systems; one in a green house, a second in a training workshop, and others were considering this for their home.
We enlisted the help of an off grid blacksmith with expertise in brick and iron rocket stove construction to teach best standard practice and assist pioneer it's application aboard a canal boat.
The rocket stove build has been focused in two locations - a canal-side woodland, off Old Oak Common Lane in West London and a the Bow River Farm canal-side permaculture garden in Hackney Wick, East London where we used the opportunity to work with community and the Permablitz London team to clear and rejuvenate these spaces.
The project gave CIC the opportunity to engage and raise awareness to our work with large engineering projects – such as Cross Rail and Thames Tideway Tunnel to encourage their donation of excess clay extracted from their excavations. As a result of our meetings,Thames Water agreed to be CIC sponsor.
CIC now have a partnership agreement that allows us to use The Gaia Gallery to transport clay between sites that were located nearby to the London canal system in exchange for our running cob building events on board the boat and support its completion.
TECHNICAL
The 'Gaia Gallery' project is a to refit of a 43 foot steel barge in such a way that it exists totally 'off-grid.' 'Off-grid' means that the boat will require no mains electrical, water or fuel input and no sewage output and will run solely off firewood and solar power generation.
Traditional building methods such as cob construction, carpentry and joinery will be married with cutting-edge technologies such as the latest in permaculture design processes such as rocket stove mass heating and rainwater harvesting. Through combining these different methods we are able to use predominately natural or recycled materials in the build making this a pioneering structure.
The Gaia Gallery
THE BRIEF
To assist build the first off-grid, touring permaculture workshop and event space in the world, including a heated cob bench, fired by a rocket stove aboard a London barge, earthern walls and treatment to cob in high water areas.
THE OUTPUTS
To oversee and project manage cob making and cob renovation of the interior of the space.
To conduct the build in a way that involved community groups through a series of public courses.
To organize training on rocket stove heaters and together with the cob work, and help the project develop its network of people with skills in cob making and rocket stove builds to assist in the completion of the project.
To offer courses in natural material building and permaculture and bring their marriage to the attention of many Londoners for the first time.
THE OUTCOME
Cob in the Community organised multiple cob building weekends that attracted and engaged a number of diverse groups including SOAS Radical Architects, Bow River Farm, The London Permaculture Network, Meadow Forge, Public Works, Community ReLeaf and many more over multiple weekends.
The courses helped raise awareness of rocket stoves as an alternative high efficient heating systems that burns very little wood at high temperature and produces little - no smoke. Participants came away with skills to build their one systems; one in a green house, a second in a training workshop, and others were considering this for their home.
We enlisted the help of an off grid blacksmith with expertise in brick and iron rocket stove construction to teach best standard practice and assist pioneer it's application aboard a canal boat.
The rocket stove build has been focused in two locations - a canal-side woodland, off Old Oak Common Lane in West London and a the Bow River Farm canal-side permaculture garden in Hackney Wick, East London where we used the opportunity to work with community and the Permablitz London team to clear and rejuvenate these spaces.
The project gave CIC the opportunity to engage and raise awareness to our work with large engineering projects – such as Cross Rail and Thames Tideway Tunnel to encourage their donation of excess clay extracted from their excavations. As a result of our meetings,Thames Water agreed to be CIC sponsor.
CIC now have a partnership agreement that allows us to use The Gaia Gallery to transport clay between sites that were located nearby to the London canal system in exchange for our running cob building events on board the boat and support its completion.
TECHNICAL
The 'Gaia Gallery' project is a to refit of a 43 foot steel barge in such a way that it exists totally 'off-grid.' 'Off-grid' means that the boat will require no mains electrical, water or fuel input and no sewage output and will run solely off firewood and solar power generation.
Traditional building methods such as cob construction, carpentry and joinery will be married with cutting-edge technologies such as the latest in permaculture design processes such as rocket stove mass heating and rainwater harvesting. Through combining these different methods we are able to use predominately natural or recycled materials in the build making this a pioneering structure.
