Handmade House at the Ramble: press release
The Handmade House at the Ramble is a demonstration project modelling collaboration between commercial builders and independent artisans. Stone mason Marc Archambault of the Unturned Stone joined Handmade in America
, Biltmore Farms Homes and a hundred other crafts-people to bring the project to life.
Archambault designed and built a small patio framed by retaining walls and boulders that anchor a long bench. Opposite the back porch house, the stone patio offers a lovely view of the landscaping and other craft features in the yard. The stone work has features of its own. Throughout the project, Archambault incorporated marbles into the stonework. There are over seventy marbles tucked into the joinery, little glimmers of color that you notice the longer you examine the work. “I like to reward closer inspection,” he says. “My favorites are the ones you can see and touch and move around, but can’t get out of the wall.”
download death ride aka haunted highway online
The Handmade vision includes building green, minimizing impact on the environment and promoting sustainability. To that end, all of Unturned’s work is dry laid without any mortar or concrete. By avoiding cement, Unturned significantly reduced the carbon footprint of the project. Rainwater runoff drains through dry-stacked stonework, preventing the build-up of hydrostatic pressure which inevitably pushes over mortared walls. With minimal upkeep, this wall will last for generations. All the stone is local to the area, reducing the fuel needed to get it to the job site. “The local stone gives the work a sense of place,” says Archambault. “It’s native and natural. It belongs here.”
