Somewhere That’s Green

It seems that this Earth child’s older sister Gilding, has found a gilded future for us all today!

Hurricane Katrina tore apart Louisianna, killing, maiming and changing the lives of millions.  In response, disaster relief provided them with temporary housing, “mold and lead lined trailers” as Gilding refers to them, to tide them over whilst waiting for their new houses to be built. However, in the face of this great disaster it seems that one track-mind-America had forgotten about it’s promise to be a greener place, until now.

We all remember childhood holidays and birthdays where we would wait for that one super large gift that came in huge cardboard box! And why? For the box of course. With that lovely cube of cardboard we could have a spaceship, a race car, a fort, a robot, you name it! It was everything! Essentially, that was the idea behind this amazing, and beautiful piece of work created by Peter Stutchbury and Richard Smith.

Now this is not to say that it provides you with interplanetary transport. However, it does provide practical shelter without deepening your carbon footprint! Besides being nastolgic, this house also provides a pretty substantial list of Environmental Features.

Environmental features
- Uses 85% recycled materials
- All materials are 100% recycleable
- Recycling the house saves 12 cubic metres of landfill, 39 trees and 30,000 litres of water
- Extremely low cost, transportable, and flexible, this is a genuine housing option that could be used in a variety of temporary applications
- Autonomous servicing: uses only 12-volt batteries or small photovoltaic cells for power generation
- Composting system produces nutrient-rich water for gardening

Now i know this all sounds great, but still at the back of your mind you’re thinking “That’s great, until a rain storm or a nice gust of wind, or a Bully with an ego problem comes around. But thankfully Stutchbury and Smith have taken that all into account! As quoted from an article about the amazing structure on IDasia.org. (http://www.idasia.org/peter-stutchbury-richard-smith-the-cardboard-house/)!

“The Carboard House is made of recycled carboard supplied by Visy Industries. This is completed with a waterproof roof made from HDPE plastic, which also forms the material of the flexible under-floor water tanks and the novel kitchen and bathroom ‘pods’.

The Cardboard House is conceived as a kit of parts comprising a flat pack of frames, and infill floor and wall panels. It uses minimal fixings: nylon wing nuts, hand-tightened polyster tape stays and Velcro fastenings are used to assemble the frames and protective skin system.

The building can be assembled by two people over a six-hour period using appropriate scaffolding, and is transportable in a light commercial vehicle.

A series of repetitive portal frames are both spaced and stabilised by a standardised secondary structure, similar to the interlocking spacer sheets found in wine boxes. Once assembled, the structure provides a creative architectural frame from which the house derives its aesthetic.

Fixed and moveable furnishings, floor systems, door and opening frames, lighting and other services all relate to the structure and layout.

The roof covering is a lightweight material that is as transportable as the structure. Similar to a tent fly, the roof fabric assists in holding down the building, providing a diffuse light in the day and a glowing box at night.

Water is collected in bladders underneath the floor which double as ballast to hold down the lightweight building. A composting toilet system produces nutrient-rich water for gardening. Low-voltage lighting can be powered using a 12-volt car battery or small photovoltaic cells mounted on the roof framing.”