Restoration Australia on ABC – As a council heritage officer, Kirsty deals daily with the minefield complexities of conservation and the myriad challenges facing restorers working on historically important homes.
Husband Mark’s city architectural practice is booming so his skills and vision are keenly sought. But a tiny house made of dirt, rock and timber hidden under layers and layers of overgrowth on an acre block in the Adelaide Hills just about has them stumped.
Settlers’ cottages made of mud weren’t supposed to last more than a few decades, let alone 170 years, and Kirsty and Mark don’t really know how much of it is still standing until they fire up the chain saw and liberate the little building from its thick cape of vines and weeds.
The little house is standing, but only just. It’s been simply built using readily available materials and a combination of ancient construction techniques; Pisé (essentially rammed earth) and Lathe and Mud (a layered framework of mud, rocks and timber).
Rebuilding it is anything but simple. Kirsty and Mark have committed to restoring it as authentically as possible. So that means learning the construction process and resurrecting the cottage just as it was built. And, pretty much, doing all the work themselves.
With three teenage kids and busy jobs, the Pisé Cottage is going to demand every spare moment and just about every nugget of restoration and building knowledge they possess.
There are times when walls threaten to collapse entirely bringing the pocket-sized place down into a heap of dirt and termite-ravaged timber. There are nerve-wracking stretches when the entire house is suspended in mid-air as Kirsty and Mark race to repair underpinnings and mud walls.
Over the course of Restoration Australia, we’ve never seen such a small space demand so much energy and attention to detail.
Production credit: A Fremantle production for the ABC. Supervising Executive Producer: Brooke Bayvel. Executive Producer: Michael Collett. ABC Executive Producers: Madeleine Hawcroft and Jo Chichester.
Restoration Australia on ABC and ABC iview – Thursday 6 June at 8.00pm
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