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THOUGHTS
ON BUILDING I spent some time yesterday observing a recently completed owner built home - a swallows' nest. It occurred to me that there might be some wisdom to be gained by human owner builders from the swallows' purely organic shelter. The first thing that impressed me, was the way it blended perfectly with its building site and also with the immediate surrounding environment. I pondered - was the non egotistical nature of the shelter simply accidental or was it planned? A perfect combination of material, function, quality and aesthetics, done that way to optimise the continuation of the swallows' standard of living. I saw no evidence of a false façade or attempts to hide the nature of the materials, in fact there was no pretentiousness nor obviously preconceived ideas in the design at all. How foolish of me, the reason the nest was so honest? was that there were no other swallows in the area competing for, House of the Year Award. The second thing that occurred to me, was that the shelter must have been designed by a local swallow designer or the owner. How else could such a perfect shelter be designed? Certainly a great deal of time must have been spent on site to get the feel of the contours, the aspects and all the other things a designer needs to imbibe personally. Quite obviously the swallows had got it all together- no project homes, standard plans or colonial-cross-gothic "styles" for them. Yes, they knew the importance of a close working relationship with a designer who had spent time on their site and who didn't draw plans from Tasmania for their home in Queensland. They also knew that the predominate construction materials should be naturally occurring and be found in the local area, that the building site is not just a base for the shelter but an integral part of it, that the immediate environment is not a separate entity but also part of the dwelling and that the shelter should make maximum beneficial use of all energy systems. The affect of this little nest upon my psyche was so intense that I returned early the next morning to study it further. It was cold and frosty but the nest and the young fledglings safe inside, were warmed by the delicate first rays of the new sun. Very clever planning I thought. It was difficult for humans to get close to the nest, so I climbed back down and moved to a respectable distance - one must allow others their privacy you know. I sat on a gnarled old log to think a while, that's always been my trouble (thinking out problems rather than solving them intuitively), a tiny lizard scurried back inside the log; wow, another organic shelter. My thoughts were interrupted by the adult swallows returning home with the kid's tucker. After the kids had finished their breakfast the father swallow perched himself beside the nest and looked me squarely in the eye, you know the way swallows do. I'm sure if he could have spoken he would have
told me about the big responsibility we humans have when building in areas
of unspoilt bushland. And that every building site, every dwelling and
each lot of occupants are unique, as such they require a unique solution
to the design problem. Complete harmony between the dwelling, the
environment and the occupants is the ultimate aim. It occurred to
me that if this harmony is achieved it cannot be completely defined with
words nor appreciated by the intellect, it can only be felt intuitively.
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