How body, mind, heart and nature are one; how nature will feed us physically, emotionally and spiritually if we feed nature; and how nature will inspire us endlessly if we learn to love her as part of our being – these are all things that become clear when you take a good look at singer-songwriter Xavier Rudds’ home.
Xavier Rudd and his Canadian wife Marci live in a house that is truly an ode to the earth. Built between eucalyptus trees just outside of Torquay, Victoria, it is as much a part of nature as the trees that surround it. And as you can tell when you listen to Xavier’s music or look at Marci’s art, nature is an amazing inspiration!
The most amazing thing about this house is how it is absolutely luxurious, without having all the ‘modern’ luxuries. The walls for example are made from hay and clay. And as primitive as that may sound, it is enormously eco friendly and absolutely functional for the combination of hay and clay serves as insulation too. This means that there is hardly any need for air-conditioning or heating. When there is need for a little electricity however, they have their own solar collectors to provide it all!
And that’s not all; they also aren’t clients of the water service! How, you ask? All the water that they need they simply catch from the roof in huge rainwater tanks!
But the most incredible thing is the little ecosystem that this house runs. Under the floor of the deck outside their kitchen is big tank of worms and mud, which serves as their own filtering system! All the organic rubbish is thrown in there and their sewage and grey water goes there too. The worms transform it all into compost that goes through a sand filter and then through pipes to eventually nourish the Rudd’s own garden. This means that the healthier their diet is, the better the worms can do their work, and the healthier the compost is that feeds their own grown fruits and veggies; a perfect little ‘circle of life’.
Another nice thing about their piece of land and their house is the history. Xavier actually grew up there and used to play on the 5 hectares of ground that he now refers to as his own. Xavier also met his wife Marci there 9 years ago when she showed up one day and never left again. At first Marci and Xavier used to love camping on this ground a lot, until at one day they could afford to buy it and build a house there with their two sons, Joaquin and Finojet.
And the fairytale doesn’t end there; Xavier and Marci wanted to build their house on this beautiful piece of land but they didn’t know where as they didn’t want to cut down one single tree! And this is what I mean when I say that nature takes care of you when you take care of nature: During a storm a big eucalyptus tree was knocked down, leaving a big open space –that’s when they knew where their house had to be built.
Marci started looking for an architect and found Zen architects, who specialised in doing innovative and durable architecture. They decided on making the house out of one piece as much as possible, inspired by Marci’s Australian Swag (a little tent and sleeping bed all in one). The frame of the house was made by first placing a steal frame, around which the walls of hay were put up. These walls were finished off with clay leaving it looking all natural and beautiful. They even built the house in a way that it is accessible via an old wallaby path that was used for the hunting in times gone past.
That way not even one little piece of nature had to suffer!
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