Car Tyre Course: 10th-14th April 2006
A blank canvas almost, the site had been laid out, the tyres collected and stacked. The sloping site was partially levelled by cut-and-fill. Additional crushed slate waste from a local quarry was brought in to provide an even and compacted base. The slope meant a platform for the building at its west end was still needed, but this was mitigated by allowing the building to sit into the ground at the eastern end.
The foundations were built up from this firm base in 41 car tyre pillars, 3 tyres high, and perfectly filled with rammed crushed slate. Over 120 car tyres and 3 tractor tyres were reused this way and the cob wall sits on a curve of 17 rammed earth tyre pillars. Because of the presence of wire within the tyres, these act as rubber- stone gabion and are incredibly strong in compression. The suspended flooring of the building rests on the rubber of the tyres doubling as a damp-proof course as the core is free draining.
Over the week, 35 different people laboured to get the work done (several for all 5 days) and they ached in places they never knew they had.
