The Green Light Trust is an environmental charity that helps children become involved in the community by helping to plant local woodlands. When the Trust decided to build a new office, they wanted it to have “deep green principles”. With the help of architects specialising in sustainable construction, they embarked upon a project which is not just carbon neutral, but carbon-negative. All the materials and labour were to be sourced from within a twenty mile radius. Volunteers did much of the work. They moved an existing shed and re-used the timbers, using limewash, not toxic chemicals, to protect against infestation. The bricks are made of local hemp and lime, and are insulators as well as being carbon negative since hemp absorbs carbon dioxide. The interior walls were made of wattle and daub, from their own woodland hazel trees and local clay. They used linseed oil paint. There are solar panels, and the sewage is carried out through their own reedbed system. Rainwater is recycled from the roof and the whole place is heated with a woodchip boiler running on timber from the woods. The building won an architectural sustainability award this year, and rightfully so. :: Green Light Trust via :: The Times

Ana Walsh Fashion Archeology

Merry Christmas and a Happy 2007 from Barcelona