From founding an eco-village to urban regeneration, and a brand new cob bench for the Mill, Powwow Eco Arts held their 3rd Green Architecture Day on the 17th June.
Bridge 5 Mill made an ideal location for a day all about our built environment from a decidedly ecological viewpoint. The day ranged from a speaker involved in a visionary project to found a whole eco-village in rural North Tipperary to a wander down the canal around the huge site of urban regeneration by relatively green mainstream developers Urban Splash.
For those who wanted a more hands on approach there was a chance to your hands dirty helping Earthed build a cob bench in front of Bridge 5 Mill. Cob is a traditional building method using the natural materials of clay-earth, straw, sand and water and the same basic technique can be used to build multi-storey tower blocks.
Along the way we also heard from people who had already done it- from Diggers, a well established self build housing co-operative that used an adapted "Walter Segal" method in Brighton and a more recent project near the centre of Bristol where residents managed their own self build plots.
More details of the day's speakers and events are at www.green-architecture.org.uk , and for those who couldn't be there on the day a pack that includes all the presentations will be available to buy soon.