BOTTLE ART

When we started our random plans for the house, we wanted to keep the large windows to the front. This was not just to maximize passive solar heat from the sun, but also to keep the daylight to the sunny side of the house.

However, the back wall of the house would have the early morning sun, so we decided to do some bottle art installation. We didn't want a design that looked like anything in particular, just some organic, flowing shapes that would move along the wall.

Because of the thickness of the exterior walls (70 cm) the bottle necks were cut off and the remains were placed cut side together to form a pair and inserted in plastic gutter piping.

They were then painstakingly placed in position, using adobe mortar to fix them firm.


The result, with the morning sun shining through the bottles is quite stunning.......

Encouraged by this success, Ed went on to do two more installations along the back wall of the corridor......


The installations look a little rough at the moment, but once the walls are rendered with earth, they will be much sharper.

INSTALLATION OF THE COLUMN CAGE - TAKE 2

It was not an easy task, managing the slippery metal snake and our workers had never installed anything like this before. But the reason for the failure had been poor positioning of the ropes tied to the structure. This is where Ed's sailing experience came in handy, raising masts etc. and he soon had the metal cage in place and secured.

INSTALLATION OF THE COLUMN CAGE - TAKE 1

Our living room is going to be double height to incorporate a mezzanine that will house an office and a snug area, as well as providing access to the roof terrace.

The pitched roof will be supported by beams placed across a minimum 1 metre diameter hollow concrete column containing a wood burning stove at the bottom. The column will be made using the same technique as the concrete tubes that lined the well. It will be shaped like a tree - wide at the base tapering gradually and then spreading out at its full height of 8 metres.

The first step was to construct a reinforcing cage made of steel, hand wired together to strengthen the column. The next step was to install it in the middle of the living room........................

As you can see from the above storyboard, things under the supervision of Hipolito didn't quite go to plan. Time for the boss to step in..............