What a Weekend: The Port Eliot Festival, Cornwall

The Port Eliot Festival is an annual celebration of words, music, imagination, ideas, nature, food, fashion, flowers, laughter, exploration and fun.

An incredible array of performers have appeared at Port Eliot since the festival started over a decade ago, all drawn together by the festival’s laid-back approach and inspirational atmosphere. They include the likes of Dominic West, Kate Winslet, Martin Parr, Anna Sui, Anita Pallenberg, Barbara Hulanicki, Ralph Steadman, Jarvis Cocker, Jacob Dylan, Suggs, Julian Cope, the Hemsleys, Beth Orton, Stephen Jones, Jack Stein, Nathan Outlaw, Angela Hartnett, Thomasina Miers, Suzy Menkes, Edmund de Waal, Sarah Waters, William Dalrymple, Hanif Kureishi, Hannah Rothschild and Gavin Turk.

Our Favourite Stage:  Hole & Corner

Hole & Corner magazine is dedicated to celebrating craft, beauty, passion and skill. This year, the pages of the magazine will come alive at Port Eliot Festival, as we invite you to wander (and wonder) through our world at the ‘Makers’ tent.

In partnership with Affinity With Plymouth University, we will be curating a series of daily talks, live demonstrations and workshops from some of the finest designer-makers in the world.

We firmly believe that the route to happiness is making something with your own fair hand: or at the very least having a brew and watching the experts at work. Come in, learn a new skill or hone an old one; reconnect with Mother Nature or just have a mooch, a coffee and a chat.

There will be music from 5-7pm every evening at the Hole & Corner / Moshi Moshi stage… and look out for a number of special exclusive events taking place throughout the weekend

Wood Workshops with Benchmark, Sebastian Cox, Driftwood Surfboards and England’s last clog maker, Jeremy Atkinson.

Leather Workshops Belt and guitar-strap making with leatherware designer Bill Amberg Leather steaming + workshops with Tortie Hoare

Textiles  Dyeing workshops with artisan Aboubakar Fofana

Ceramics Workshops with Jacob Bodilly, Billy Lloyd and Stephie Buttle

Paper & Print Woodblock engraved printing with Robin MacKenzie  & Paper sculpture with Zoe Bradley

Hole & Corner/Moshi Moshi stage, 5pm – 7pm daily

From bands including: Oliver Coates, Meilyr Jones, Sweet Baboo and Seamus Fogarty + DJ sets from Amateurism & Pete Wiggs (St Etienne)

http://www.porteliotfestival.com

Hofler Architects.  6A Carrickbrennan Road, Monkstown, Co. Dublin.

Ireland's Largest Strawbale Building!

The Lime House guesthouse featured on RTE Nationwide.

Ireland's largest strawbale building designed by Paul Mulhern of SPACIOUS Architects is nearing completion at the Rock Farm, Slane Castle, Co. Meath.  The project was featured on tonight's Nationwide program on RTE (12 mins in). Finishing touches are being put to the eco guesthouse in preparation for the weekend's concert.  The program is available to view on RTE's Player for the next 20 days.

Rock Farm site plan at Slane showing all six straw bale buildings.

The Lime House is the Rock Farm Slane’s 2-storey, 6 bedroom eco guesthouse, which has been built out of straw bales and clay plaster with lime on the outside to provide healthy, environmentally-sound eco-tourism accommodation in the Boyne Valley. This guesthouse has been designed to the highest environmental construction standards, and in sympathy with the woodland, organic farmland and architecturally-protected parkland of Slane Castle just over the river from the development.  The Lime House is named after the adjacent stone ruins of a lime kiln which now forms a centre-piece of the new courtyard space to the front.

The Lime House and five other straw bale buildings including a rental cottage, worker's cottage, farm office and a family house for the owners were all designed by architect, Paul Mulhern.  The guesthouse, farm office and yurt camping are all now complete.

The rear of the Lime House, facing the farm.

Elevation drawing.

Side Elevation.

Perspective drawing of the Lime Home.

Strawbale, lime plaster, recycled timber materials.

• The Rock Farm, Eco tourism farm, Slane.
• Straw bale building.
• SPACIOUS Architects.  01-5585205

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[Designed while Paul was a partner in his previous practice].

An Bord Pleanála approves Dún Laoghaire urban beach project

The type of facility Dun Laoghaire's Urban Beach is to be modelled on.

The €2.75 million urban beach and barge pool project proposed for Dún Laoghaire harbour has been given the go ahead by An Bord Pleanála.

The beach, modelled on Berlin’s Badeschiff project, is to include a cafe and artificial beach at the East Pier, alongside a floating barge containing a swimming pool with heated, treated seawater.  The 250sq m swimming pool on the floating barge will heat seawater to 26 degrees. The beach is to be about 240sq m in area.

Dún Laoghaire Harbour Company said the project would attract more than 150,000 visitors a year and pull in €1 million in admission charges.  Figures for the annual running and staff costs have not been released.

It is expected to be open for summer 2016 and will be open for six months of the year, from April through to September.

A Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company image of the proposed new building and pool.

The plan includes a floating swimming pool containing heated and treated seawater, utilising a converted river barge which will be located within the Harbour.  The Urban Beach will include toilets, changing rooms, a café, a wind-protected cafe seating and lounge area, where patrons can relax on a deck chair and enjoy views of the iconic harbour. The facility is designed with a sustainable and environmentally friendly ethos. Materials include the use of a recycled river barge, long life timber cladding, recycled rubber sand effect flooring and recycled timber decking. The pool will use treated sea water which will be heated by extracting heat from the seabed. Low energy technologies will be promoted throughout, and Dun Laoghaire Harbour prioritise energy supply from renewable sources.

Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company website

Architect's rendered image of actual the proposed building and pool.

Above and below:  The design team's rendered images of the proposed pier buildings to accompany the new pool.  (Compare with the previously published images).

What do you think?  Comment below.

Hofler Architects, Monkstown, Co. Dublin.