Want to build a home for €20,000? Or even less? 

Sunday  8 March 2009  | 10am - 5pm | FULL

€95 | 10% discount for Cultivate & ÉASCA Members | Cultivate Centre | Essex St West | Temple Bar | Bookings: 01 674 5773 

This one day theoretical workshop with Andy Wilson will look at simple house design and construction, with the emphasis on very low cost construction using natural and recycled materials. The starting point is the premise that a home should be affordable, pleasant to live in, and should have the lowest possible environmental impact. This course is particularly aimed at young people who want to build an ultra-low cost mortgage-free home in a rural area.

The type of structures examined in the workshop will certainly not belong to the soul-less 'vernacular' post seventies concrete block-based architecture which has blighted Ireland. In post-peak oil Ireland, it is assumed a more enlightened approached to low-impact structures will naturally evolve. It is encouraging to see that planners in West Wales have now granted favourable planning status to certain dwellings which meet their strict criteria for low environmental impact.

Participants will be shown how to produce scaled drawings and will be encouraged to design and draw their own simple structures during the workshop.