ABSTRACT
The earthworks machinery is the major energy input into the process of creating a WET System, but once completed it requires no further artificial energy input. This conversion of the perennial ‘problem’ of what to do with human waste – converting it into a positive resource – is just the physical magic. The intangible magic is even more powerful and occurs in the minds of those who perceive the resulting landscape: an immense increase in biodiversity, of economic value and of spiritual and aesthetic value. These multiple benefits are the direct result of taking an all-encompassing, ecological perspective; of seeing waste and water as an integral part of the web of life.
I’m including this because, although small, I believe that the principles can be used to design a building of any size, and with more than one storey. It’s my studio, which I designed, and where I wrote this book. The plan is modular in the sense that the studs in the timber frame walls are positioned just 5 mm less apart than the width of the woodfibre batts, which were squeezed between them, both to avoid the need for cutting and to eliminate gaps through which cold air might seep. The plan area can therefore
