Text: Balázs Válóczy

People who find me as an architect usually already feel the serious problems of the climate changing and the degradation of the environment, as well as the responsibility of architecture in these processes, and start looking for a way out. Among them are those who are willing to do it and pay the price, which is often not cheap. I have gained experience in designing or building a number of hill houses and adobe houses, and occasionally timber and straw houses, and I have also been looking at hemp for a few years now. For our own house, I chose this material, which I complemented with alternative solutions that aim at autonomy: a wood-burning stove, a rainwater management system. I also used architectural tools: a circular floor plan for optimal orientation/solar gain, conscious massing to minimize heat loss, and shading to avoid overheating in summer.