SAM LUDGATE BLOOMMOBILE & PERMANENT WOODEN CABINS
Cabins | Saunas | Compost Toilets | Sheds | Field Shelters | Field Showers
On + Off Grid, Mobile + permanent, Wood + salvage
“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”
–William Shakespeare
The primal, and healing effect of nature is in our DNA. Connecting with ourselves, and our natural rhythms is most powerful when we live, sleep and relax close to the natural world.
Buildings made from natural materials, and set within nature reconnect us with our natural selves in a positive and mindful manner.
Wood is a beautiful, varied, and unique building material, for its many qualities. How it looks, how it ages, how nice it is to work with, how it smells, how it reverberates sound and heat, and for its carbon neutrality.
These are the reasons I make small wooden buildings. I hope to increase our connection with nature, I want to help us enjoy our leisure time more deeply, and add joy to our working environments. I also care deeply about our environment. Creating buildings uses materials and energy, so for me It’s about finding ways to be more mindful and responsible in how we source and apply those materials and energy.
One can argue that, although there are drawbacks, with regards the issues of monocultures created by timber production, and the emissions that come with transporting it, timber is a carbon neutral material.
However using timber for projects with a short term lifespan can be a negative practice, and I do everything I can to avoid it. I make things that are to be treasured and that are designed to last more than a lifetime. Buildings should surprise and delight, a sense of theatre is intrinsic to the way that I design my spaces.
Different species of tree need different periods of time to grow and therefore lock in carbon. This means that effective carbon locking is tied to the required lifespan as a building material. If responsibly grown timber is applied and maintained before it can decay, it locks up carbon that would have otherwise been released in its natural breakdown.
It’s a complicated topic and it forces me to think about the lifespan of my projects. I select and source materials as responsibly as possible. By designing buildings to an extremely high level of detail, and then building them myself I can avoid wasting anything. Any un avoidable leftovers are taken into other projects, or put to other uses, so everything finds its home.
Wherever possible, I recycle materials and objects. I find great personal joy in scouring architectural salvage, whether it’s for taps, light fittings, windows, doors, floors, tiles, or raw timber. There’s the richness of quality and style that the modern can lack, and with the added joy of restoration. And giving something that has been discarded a new lease of life has great benefits.
'When considered aesthetically and used sympathetically, old objects seem to retain an energetic resonance that can transfer into the rest of the building. I never use them just for the sake of it, always because it compliments the building, and is better for the environment.'
This thinking also applies to the environmental impact of small buildings. Why default to filling the ground with concrete, when there are less intrusive ways to foot a building? It’s about reframing the need and the response, so the interior and exterior work in harmony.
'Highly considered interiors are more important for small spaces than their larger counterparts. My designs are inspired and informed by that. With small buildings every single square inch should be considered, and psychological space is more pressing; by creating illusions for the eye, one can increase the feeling of space without extending the footprint.'
After a childhood punctuated by Blue Peter follow-alongs, school holidays working in my parents’ garden furniture workshop, and eternally reconfiguring my bedroom layout, I got properly into my creative stride at Falmouth University where I studied BA Fine Art: Sculpture. It gave me the freedom to explore, and I spent most of my time making, and mixing 3 dimensional objects, spaces and projection films.
Moving to London straight after graduation, a year in production on fashion shoots and big TV commercials made me rethink seeking my fortune as a music video director and I found I fitted much more comfortably in the art department within the film industry.
I went on to form SAM & ARTHUR with Arthur de Borman, a fellow Falmouth graduate.
We spent six very creative years as art directors, designing and building sets and props for music videos and TV commercials. We got into commercial installations as well: interior design, fashion shows, pop-ups, and sculpture design, for big brands such as NIKE, Vans, IKEA and Smirnoff in London, Barcelona, and New York.
After 10 years based in London, a different way of working and living called, and a return to Cornwall answered.
To facilitate my London exit I spent some time working in-house for a UK based interior architecture + design company specialising in high end, French ski chalet refurbishments in Val D'isere and Meribel. It taught me lots about maximising small living space.
But now back in Cornwall, with a young family, I have finally been able to focus my designing and making towards sculpturally interesting, small wooden buildings that reflect each client’s requirements, and that are built to last.
