Art I cles

The shortlisted architect of Stirling Prize, Matthew Barnett Howland with Dido Milne and Wilton, they have built a Cork House in Berkshire, England, The uniqueness of this house is, this is built by cork blocks.

This house is built in beside the Thames River, so they had kept in their mind, what will be the effect on the house, of greenhouse gas emissions, and biodiversity effect. The created the design of this building according to there ambient.

The Upper part of the house is a pyramid-like structure, which makes this house very eye-catching, and that part has constructed through the sustainable source cork blocks and supported by timber components. It has been designed like that, it can be easily pulled apart and that remains can be reused or recycled.

“The Cock House is an innovative concept and thought-provoking response to pressing questions about the materials that we build with," explained Howland, Milne, and Wilton.

"Rather than the typical complex, layered building envelope incorporating an array of building materials, products and specialist sub-systems, the Cork House is an attempt to make solid walls and roof from a single bio-renewable material."

Cork House is the new research project by Howland in collaboration with Bartlett School of Architect, the University of Bath, Amorin UK and Ty-Mawr.

They are working on this project since 2014, how to develop a sustainable constructions system that bases on almost entirely on cork – a renewable, resistant and insulating material that is a obtain from the bark of the core oak tree.

"This work started around six years ago with us asking some questions about how we build today and wondering if it would be possible to develop an alternative with less complexity," Howland, Milne, and Wilton told Dezeen.
"In particular we were interested in an approach that took into account environmental sustainability principles at each stage of a building's lifecycle."

This system is based on the expanded cork blocks, which are prepared from cork granules heated to form a strong solid building material. After that, the blocks cut with interlocking joints to form a structure “like-lego”. Now they can be used to build solid walls.
 Based on engineering timber, therefore this system does not need to use mortar or glue and simultaneously this design brings the flexibility to recyclable and reusable structure.

Pic and reference took from- dezeen.com