On the banks of the Thames, the first house entirely made of cork, built without cement or glue.

It doesn't require much work to install: the recycled cork panels fit together seamlessly, requiring no additional steps. And the environmental impact is extremely low: at the end of its lifespan, the material can even be composted.

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cork house

It's called Cork House. Those who have visited it swear that, inside, you can smell the scent of a cork forest. A truly magical home, certainly the first to be designed entirely of cork, a heat-insulating, durable, sustainable, and completely eco-friendly material.

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CORK HOUSE

And like a small brick house, building it doesn't require mortar, glue, strong adhesives, or cement work. It does require a great deal of patience and precision, and possibly a passion for puzzles, as the panels fit together simply. Don't think of it as a prefabricated or short-lived housing solution, however, because a wooden house is designed to be a fully-fledged home, capable of lasting decades without any kind of collapse.

Located in Eton, a town just 40 km from London on the left bank of the Thames, it certainly doesn't go unnoticed not only for its design but also for its delightful setting, which makes the construction experiment even more magical. Designed in the rear of a typical early 900th-century English brick building by architects Dido Milne and Oliver Wilton, in collaboration with the Bartlett School of Architecture, Cork House is the first building in the world to use cork for bricks, walls and ceilings. An eco-sustainable home with a very low environmental impact, especially in terms of carbon emissions, which has been proposed  to participate in the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects' Stirling Prize, which rewards the best building designed and built in the United Kingdom.

cork house

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CORK HOUSE ENGLAND

And indeed, it's a truly interesting project. Looking at it, the cork house seems anything but flimsy: it has a steel frame, and its stepped structure recalls ancient Mayan stone constructions, yet it feels warm and enveloping to the touch. It has nothing in common with a brick or stone building, even in terms of its simplicity of construction: the cork slabs it's made of, approximately 1268 by 44 square meters, can be laid by hand, without the need for special skills or invasive, impactful work. And then, at the end of the material's lifespan, they can easily be dismantled, recycled, or even composted. With almost zero environmental impact, because it's not made of virgin cork, but recycled. It comes from the waste of a Portuguese producer, which is first crumbled into granules, then compressed, and finally baked at low temperatures.
Not to mention the quantity of emissions, which is significantly reduced compared to English residential buildings: the emissions of Cork House's estimated lifetime carbon emissions are around 15% less than those of a typical new English home.

This is certainly not the first time cork has been used for construction purposes—in fact, there is much research into the use of this flexible yet durable, heat-insulating, and economical material—but it is the first time that an entire, sturdy house, with rooms typical of a normal 44-square-meter home (an open-plan kitchen, a living area, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a small attic) has been conceived, designed, and built from cork, using construction methods that have such a low environmental impact.

(Images featured and accompanying the text taken from Thames Valley News, photo credits Thames Valley News)

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