Original subtitles

http://Scene-RLS.net

On Great Escapes, we're going to travel the wilderness on the hunt

for unique architectural design.

I'm Colin McAllister. And I'm Justin Ryan.

We're designers that have travelled the globe renovating houses

and adding our own unique flair

to other people's homes.

Now, we love the great outdoors and the idea of embracing

the wilderness into your home.

And in fact, just how far people will go to achieve precisely that.

Building an escape in the woods presents magnificent opportunities

for individual design, but also unique challenges to work in harmony

with the surroundings.

Add to that an extreme North American climate, from blistering

hot summers to teeth-chattering winters,

and these escapes must combine splendour with functionality.

We're going to explore properties that take that challenge head on

as we investigate homes that celebrate the landscape

and work with the environment in interesting and distinctive ways.

We will be visiting dramatically different properties...

..whose homeowners are seeking design purity,

employing one dominant building material.

We'll then be exploiting the challenges therein

of using that one material.

One owner would only contemplate building his entire dwelling

out of glass.

But is there method to his madness?

Oh, my goodness.

Another proud homeowner dreamed of building a timber-framed property,

meticulously pieced together with lumber from across the nation.

Wow.

And we'll be finding out how straw bales are useful for

much more than just horse bedding.

This is completely and utterly, totally, wildly different

to virtually everything that we've ever seen in our lives.

So, we've heard that the first place that we're going to see is

a real sight to behold, especially given that in this area most cabins

are A-frame and built out of wood.

Ah, but the homeowner, Larry, wasn't interested in anything traditional.

Oh, no.

He decided to build his cabin... ..entirely out of glass.

After buying a piece of property with a main cottage structure

and a boathouse, professional photographer Larry Williams

decided to completely reimagine the waterfront.

Top of his list, constructing a new work-live building over the water.

First and foremost, it's a dwelling for Larry and his wife.

But it also serves as a studio for both him and other photographers

who can rent out the space.

Hey, Larry. How you doing? Great. Great. Good to see you, sir.

Well, talk about first impressions.

This is awesome.

Well, glad you like it.

Location clearly is everything.

And your positioning right beside the water with this incredible

array of granite.

This granite is over

three billion years old.

That's even older than Colin. Wow!

THEY LAUGH

And to have all of that glass is a really big statement

that you clearly decided to make.

It's just absolutely simplistic and beautiful.

So would you like to see the inside?

I would lo-... I thought you'd never ask.

Can we have a snoop around? Come on. Sure.

I think the benefit of using glass,

especially in the great outdoors, is that

you're really kind of dematerialising

that division between being indoors and outdoors.

It allows you to detach from what your typically urban

or kind of busy day-to-day life is.

Oh, my goodness.

This is truly spectacular.

No walls, however, no boundaries.

Completely open-plan.

How big is this?

It's just a little over 1,800 square feet.

Wow. 1,800 square feet of absolute purity and tranquillity.

I mean, just listen.

Just silence.

You know what this feels like - it feels like an art gallery.

It should feel like an art gallery, because that was one of the criteria

that we gave to the architect.

Now, as a professional photographer, you're using this as somewhere

to conduct your business as well as somewhere to retreat

from the stresses of life.

How do you combine those two functions?

Well, that's true. We actually built this to be used as a photo studio.

So the glass is called ferrous-free glass.

That means there's no iron in it.

And it's the iron that gives you a green tint to the glass.

It's really worth it because you have the beautiful experience

of no colour distortion as you're in here.

It's the ultimate daylight studio.

You know, and you've got an amazing deck unlike any deck I've ever seen.

Curved glass - this is almost invisible to the eye.

You know, you can look right through it.

It's not an obstruction at all.

A lot of people might be concerned that when you live in a glass home,

you could either be far too hot in the summer

or far too cold in the winter.

How do you balance that? Well, you're absolutely right.

The biggest challenge is the summer - cooling in the summer.

So we have geothermal

that use the lake water to help cool the place.

Geothermal heating in this context is actually geoexchange.

We take the heat out of the building in the summertime and deposit it

into the ground or a nearby body of water.

And then in the wintertime, we extract that heat

and use it in the house.

We can open these sliding doors.

Each sheet of glass is basically about ?500.

Wow. And you can move it with one hand.

Right. Watch this.

?500 door. Two fingers.

Right.

Come on!

You have this absolute widescreen view of the lake.

Spectacular. I'm pretty lucky.

Oh, my word.

What's most special about using glass as a primary building material

is its transparency.

It allows the connection to nature.

Shall we look upstairs, yeah? Yeah.

So it's a one bedroom, this whole thing, isn't it?

It is a one bedroom.

Larry, talk about a stairway to heaven.

Wow. Wow.

It's interesting - downstairs you've used clear glass to really embrace

the great outdoors.

Upstairs, you've got this translucent glass which gives

you that degree of privacy.

Yes, we have privacy up here. OK.

It also is a ferrous-free glass, so there's no green tinge to it.

So you maintain that beautiful white feeling throughout the place.

Wow. Oh, hello. Retract that glass.

Oh, wow.

I mean, it really is truly spectacular.

We wanted it to feel clean.

We wanted it to have beautiful light.

And we wanted to have as little obstruction of the view as possible.

And, wow, did we get that. You did.

You don't have to go to a window.

You just have to be in here.

It seems like the use of glass, the position on the water,

it's all about the connection to the great outdoors.

You said it perfectly.

It's not about the building itself.

When you're here, after a while, the building disappears. Yeah.

Do you know, Larry, clearly, you're an art lover.

You've got some beautiful pieces in here.

But with this amount of glass, you are in the art.

Absolutely.

Glass is a really important part of this structure.

And it's one that makes it all the better.

And where else can you actually have a bath and wave

at passing boaters?

That's kind of unique. It is unique.

And it's absolutely breathtaking.

Well, thank you.

What an amazing space.

Brilliant location, fantastic design, and great, great atmosphere.

I think you can be modern,

I think you can have loads of glass,

and the idea that you actually can have glass to give you exposure

and privacy is a major takeaway for me.

Everything about this spot is magnificent.

Timber-frame homes are not unusual in this part of the world.

Yeah, it would be hard to throw a stick without hitting

a would-built home around here.

But this next home, well, it's taken the traditional timber frame

and given it a modern and contemporary spin.

Timber framing or post and beam construction is an ancient building

method, using large wooden beams, carefully fitted and bound

with the joints secured by wooden pegs.

The techniques used in timber framing date as far back

as the Neolithic age.

Traditionally, the timbers would have been worked using axes.

Present day timbers, however, are mostly squared with band saws.

Hey, Bryan. Hey, Bryan. How are you doing?

Good morning. Welcome to Stoney Lake.

Isn't it great? Oh, it's just incredible.

This is unbelievable.

You ask yourself, where do you want to wake up? Right here.

Right here at five o'clock in the morning or at eight o'clock

in the morning - it's a great site.

This is, what - six years old?

It is. What was there?

You know, what was the original building like?

The building that was here before was a 100-year-old typical home.

I decided to take it down.

And I have to tell you, when I got here and those pilings were up,

I thought I'd built Stonehenge.

Oh, my word.

"What have I done?"

"I've made a huge mistake."

But by the time the building was there,

it all came to scale.

The timber frame ties in so effectively with the standing

pine trees that are here.

It fits without standing out.

Obviously, when you're building a home, there are loads of different

types of wood that you can choose.

And as I look up there, I'm seeing what I think is maybe

western red cedar, which is one of my own favourite lumber types.

Yeah. A tiny bit of it.

There's white pine, there is some fur in the cross members

at the front of the cottage.

It just made some sense to mix it up a little bit.

By the time it's stained out,

you really wouldn't know one from the other.

The view from the water's terrific.

The view from 30 feet higher is even better.

Fantastic.

To kind of like go back to timber structure is very romantic

because it kind of hearkens to that era of handmade things.

Pre-industrial.

Meaning they would take large hewn trees

they would cut them down, kind of shape them roughly

into usable pieces.

So, essentially, it was kind of like a tent structure

built like that.

Wow.

Look at the height in here.

This is incredible.

The wood, the exposure, there's so much heritage and tradition there.

Allowing the light to penetrate from the back

right to the front of the building.

It just makes it seem so, so large.

Frankly, the square footage is small.

1,100 square feet, or thereabouts.

What makes it so big, or feeling big, is 18-foot-high ceilings.

Two bedrooms.

A really unique bathroom situation.

There is that opportunity for some loft space up above and it was built

with that thought in mind.

No need to reinforce or do anything after the fact.

So it's a really welcoming and lovely contemporary design

that uses lumber, timber, trees as its natural main component.

Everywhere you look, different variants of timber.

And it feels so architectural.

Yet it still feels really incredibly cosy.

And again, it's the wood that does that.

It's all about the beams.

And that's what makes it connect with the forest on the far side,

or the big pine trees that we have out front as well.

If this were steel beams, I mean, that just wouldn't work.

It just makes all the difference in the world.

Timber is a very circular process.

The trees are drawing down carbon from the atmosphere,

and then we shape those trees into usable lumber.

They sequester that carbon from the atmosphere

while they are performing the function of the structure

of our buildings, which they will perform for hundreds

and hundreds of years.

And then nature will then take back that lumber into the ground,

decompose and start the process all over again.

A contemporary building and traditional build qualities.

And you can see that so clearly when you look up there and you see

the pegs and the way the timbers have been cut.

It's just such a good connection.

I was at the plant when all of these pieces were cut.

Three cranes swinging and moving all this stuff in, just like putting

a big jigsaw puzzle together.

There's a lot of very technical techniques in this home.

The design was to cover up the pieces that joined

the beams together.

And I said, I want to see that.

It's another story to show, or another story to tell.

Timber-framed houses are renowned for their longevity.

The inherent strength of large timber posts and beams tied together

using mortise and tenon joinery takes advantage of

the strength of the wood.

The logs naturally crack as the wood in a timber frame dries.

This does not compromise the strength, but it does have

the benefit of further tightening the joinery as the wood shrinks.

What do visitors think when they come and visit you?

What's their response?

Well, if there's a word, it's wow.

Clearly, you did your homework. I did.

You knew exactly what you wanted, what you didn't want. Mm-hm.

Which is really important.

No disappointments. Yeah.

75 years, 100 years from now, this place is still going to be here.

Timber frame is timber frame.

It's going to be here.

We talked about a lot of what's going on inside.

Let's go outside because that is just such an extension

of this property. Follow me. Yeah, lead the way.

If I were to try and put into a nutshell, what I like most

about this particular part of your home is just the fact that

I don't know where I am.

Am I hanging over the water?

Am I in the branches of a tree?

Am I on the bow of a boat?

It's just that lovely sense of elevation.

So let's call it an infinity lake house.

Cos it has that feel. It does. It's well above the water.

Like an infinity swimming pool, almost. Exactly.

It just goes on and on... Exactly. ..and on.

Talking in terms of the relationship to the water,

were there any guidelines to which you had to adhere

when building your home in relation to the distance to the water?

Well, the fact of the matter is we took down an old building,

so grandfathering allowed me to build on that same footprint.

OK, so grandfathering being the fact that there was a building here already. Correct.

Which afforded you the luxury

of being able to use that same footprint.

So having said that, we are actually 17 feet from shore.

The code today for a new building, we would have to be back 30 metres.

Oh, wow.

Which makes a whole lot of what we've got here disappear.

I mean, were you worried about not using, like, steel beams,

which would obviously be stronger?

You know, you've got timber downstairs.

You know, I never, ever thought about the idea of doing steel beams.

Using timber ties into the aesthetic of the trees that are already here.

And that was a design component that just, I think, adds to the whole

feel and vibe, especially from the lake. For sure.

So, no, never, ever, ever thought about steel beams.

This house, from the rock up, is just perfect.

You know, the relationship with the lake,

the harmony with the surroundings.

This is a successful home.

That's a nice way to describe it. I appreciate that.

Perfect proof.

You know, if you want a modern structure to be friendly

and inviting, you've got to use timber.

You know, using that natural medium,

especially in this environment, really pays big dividends.

Timber historically has done so well throughout architectural builds

and there's no reason not to continue using it.

The embracement of this beautiful rock, you know, the sympathetic way

that it just sits there,

a perfect crowning glory on something already beautiful.

It truly is a home to look up to.

I actually think this will still be here in 100 years.

It really is the kind of design that will stand the test of time.

So, I want to be surprised by this next house.

Well, I think it's fair to say you're not going to be disappointed

cos this particular place has got the most unusual building

materials of them all.

I know, right? It's straw!

Maybe the three little pigs, well, they weren't wrong after all.

All we have to do is find it now.

Is it turn left at the big trunk?

Straw bale house construction uses bales of straw as both structural

elements and building insulation.

It's natural, nontoxic, and very affordable.

Contractor Chris Magwood has built over 40 straw bale homes, including

one of his first for his mother, Sandy.

He's a leading expert on straw bale construction and has written seven

books on the process.

He also teaches the trade to a new generation interested

in sustainable new construction.

Aha.

Nice to see you both. Nice to see you.

This must just be like a dream to live in every day.

This is a dream to live in.

When I go to bed at night...

BIRDS CHIRP

..this is what you hear.

Peace and tranquillity.

Now, you're a licensed contractor and this isn't automatically

the kind of place that we'd think of when we think of building a home.

Can you give us a little bit of background about

this straw built home?

This is what I specialise in doing, is this kind of construction.

And the idea behind it was trying to make the building as local

as possible, as healthy as possible, as close to nature as possible.

How do people react when you say to them,

"OK, you know what, straw bale construction?"

Right off the bat, people are surprised that it's not

more obviously somehow looking like straw.

They don't realise that the straw is just encapsulated in the wall.

This is truly spectacular.

Wow.

There's a lot of space in here.

In total, what's your square footage here?

1,300 ish.

It's very hard to measure

a house that doesn't have any straight lines.

Exactly! Ish!

There are a few basic ground rules, lots of windows, lots of curves

and bathtub in the bedroom.

This is a real breath of fresh air because we see lots of architectural

styles and lots of different design styles.

And there's often a bit of a homogeny.

But this is completely and utterly, totally, wildly different

to virtually everything that we've ever seen in our lives.

Straw bale, I think, architecturally is interesting because it uses

a fairly light material in a massive way to achieve

an insulating quality.

And we seldom get the opportunity to use massive elements

nowadays in building.

So I think that opportunity is something extremely massive

as your building envelope is very enticing, for me anyways.

And the fact that it's essentially, in its most basic form,

a very, very cheap material.

I'm obsessed with practicalities,

and I'd love to know, for example, where the power lines are.

How do you bring the electricity in?

This house is off grid, so the power's actually coming from

the solar panels on the roof into batteries that are in the house.

The electrician places the wire back far enough in the bales to meet code.

We carve a little hole in the straw for the box to mount into.

It's actually a pretty simple process to do. Yeah, OK.

The one thing that's slightly scary is the fact that there's a log

burning stove in a hay bale home. Should I be worried?

The fire rating is, like, double what building codes would require...

Oh, really? ..because the bale itself is so densely packed

and then you seal it behind an inch of clay plaster, which also

doesn't combust.

Much more fire retardant than a conventional house would be.

So this house has been a labour of love, and I can't help

but draw my eye down to some of the photographs that you've got here,

which catalogue the work that you have done.

The big surprise, they actually are bales of straw.

They really are. THEY LAUGH

People think they're somehow processed differently.

But really, the way a farmer bales a bale is what we want to build with.

Wow. Amazing. Everybody can come and help. Yeah.

Because we're going to use a clay plaster,

we actually dipped the surface of the bale into clay, which meant

that when we went to put on the actual coat, there was already

clay for it to stick to.

With the invention of the hay baler in 1850,

the use of straw to build housing originally gained popularity

in Nebraska due to the region's scarcity of wood.

It has proved to be a durable building material.

Straw bale homes can last for over 100 years.

You know what, this is a modern structure.

It's 13 years old. That's it.

So that's challenging for people.

They like, "Oh, modern houses, what do they look like?"

You know, they're all glass. They're all boxy.

This is as modern as they are. Yeah.

And, you know, for its time 13 years ago was way far ahead of the curve

in terms of energy efficiency.

Ahead of the curve. Yeah. I see what you did there.

We were we seeing levels of energy efficiency that the code didn't even

dream of at that time.

So, I mean, it's very modern in its performance.

You and Chris have built yourself a world which for most

people would be utter fantasy.

From the very start to completion, how long did that take?

It was about a year from start to move in. About a year. Yeah.

How did the construction technique of straw bales inform the design

of the overall vision?

The design process was sort of fluid.

And then we even let the materials kind of speak a little bit...

Oh, yeah, we did. ..in terms of how things turned out, too.

So, you'll notice sometimes there's little ledges in the house.

Those ledges, they weren't planned. Whoops!

It's just the bales landed that way.

and we were like, "That would make a nice ledge. Let's leave that."

The bale walls are actually very easy to make the curves with.

They're a medium that works for making shapes other than

straight rectangles.

If you want curves, it's the material to use.

These walls are just crying out to be touched aren't they?

And they're cold to the touch. Yeah.

Yeah, they stay nice and cool in the summer.

The clay plaster is really nice for that.

At times of high humidity in the house,

the walls take that humidity on.

But if it gets really dry, they sort of let it back.

So it's got really gentle swings in terms of temperature change

and moisture change.

So naturally air conditioned as it were? That's right.

What stops the transfer of heat best is still air - air that is captured.

And straw bales, they're like little tubes, and they are filled

with captured air.

It is precisely that mechanism that makes the straw bale

such a good insulator.

They're also about 14 inches thick.

So when you get that much of any insulating material,

it works very effectively.

It's lovely to think that this is such an ancient build type.

Yet in this day and age, it can work incredibly well.

And we concern ourselves with modern techniques and sharp contrasts

and right angles.

Yet, you've gone for the opposite of that and you've created this home

with these soft lines that just travel and comfort.

There's something about this room that makes me

feel instantly relaxed and unwound.

Do you know, you're right. There is a tangible feel-good factor in here.

There is.

Quite often people will comment, "It sounds really different in here. Like, it sounds calm in here."

And what they're hearing is not all kinds of flat reflective surfaces

that give you weird echoes and stuff like that.

It's like a big architectural hug.

THEY LAUGH

It's actually like being hugged walking in here. It's true.

And so, Chris, as the designer of this incredible home,

what would you say to other people who might be thinking about building

a home from straw?

I would say there's no reason not to.

It can do everything a conventional building does, and then it can do

all the things that you've noticed -

tempers the indoor environment really nicely, it's nontoxic,

you can play with the shapes and the curves.

So you get all these benefits, and there aren't really any drawbacks,

other than your own... Anxiety.

..anxieties about that you're doing something that everybody else

considers not normal.

You've taken so many old, traditional build qualities,

but traditional build qualities that were good for a reason.

That's right. Yeah. Yeah.

Do you know what, if architecture is a feast, I just feel like

I've had an organic three-course meal.

It's been a real environmental banquet.

You're absolutely right.

Chris had these incredible ideas he picked up from 18th-century

architecture and decided to employ all these techniques

in his mother's home, and it totally worked.

It's so respectful of the environment.

It's been so well planned and so well thought out.

Straw bale architecture certainly has its roots firmly in the past.

But there's definitely a place for it in 21st century architecture.

So, three very different escapes, but three fantastic properties.

The one thing that they have in common, however, is the use of one

dominant building material in the construction.

Glass...

..timber...

..and straw.

Each material not only provides the key building component

in the home, but that material also dictates the overall design

of the structure.

In the glass house,

the ferrous-free windows allow for the ideal unfiltered light

required in a photography studio.

The timber-framed house uses traditional methods and natural

materials to construct a home that blends in with its surroundings.

The straw bale house takes advantage of the natural malleability

of the straw and the dense nature of the bales.

This creates a house that is both a celebration of soft curves

and a well-insulated home, perfectly protected from the elements.

The use of these very different building materials has produced

three very different homes.

But with one thing in common, they're all Great Escapes.

http://Scene-RLS.net