BBC News, Paris, 30th June 2010

Deep in the forests of central France, an unusual architectural experiment is half-way to completion, as a team of masons replicates in painstaking detail the construction of an entire medieval castle.

The ­Chateau de Guedelon was started in 1998, after local landowner Michel Guyot wondered whether it would be possible to build a castle from scratch, using only contemporary tools and materials.

Today, the walls are rising gradually from the red Burgundy clay. The great hall is almost finished, with only part of the roof remaining, while the main tower edges past the 15m (50ft) mark.

Builders use sandstone quarried from the very ground from which the castle is emerging.

Modern cement did not exist in the 13th Century, so mortar is made from slaked lime and sand. For tools they have basic ironware.

Eccentric pipe dream

In woods surrounding the castle, craftsmen ply all the trades required for so monumental an endeavour. Stone-cutters and carpenters fashion the raw materials. A blacksmith forges the nails. Ropes, baskets and roof-tiles are all made on site.

"The rule is that only what we know from documents that existed at the time is allowed," says Sarah Preston, an English guide.

Only contemporary tools and materials are used in the construction

What started out as an eccentric pipe dream is now an established enterprise, drawing in tens of thousands of visitors from around Europe every year.

And Guedelon is also highly respected in the academic world. Experts are fascinated by what the experiment can teach about medieval building methods.

One example concerns lime kilns, used for making the mortar. Archaeologists had often wondered why they found traces of two separate kilns at construction sites.

Experience at Guedelon showed that, in a day's work, builders often needed to top up the mortar brought in from the main kiln with small amounts made close at hand. Hence the small second kiln actually inside the castle.

The discolouring of lime-based mortar is another revelation. Within one or two years of being laid, Guedelon's walls are already showing streaks of unsightly white where the lime is leaching.

Archaeologists think this is a clue to why medieval castles were very quickly plastered and painted: it was to hide the mess.

Mr Guyot, who owns the nearby castle of St Fargeau, teamed up with businesswoman Maryline Martin to launch the project in 1996. Part of the rationale was simply to provide employment for local people.

How to build a medieval castle

The Guedelon site was chosen because it contained all the necessary materials: plentiful oak from the forests, as well as clay and water. Stone from the quarry had actually been used in the building of real-life medieval chateaux.

'Lacking soul'

The castle's design is based on a style made popular by French King Philippe-Auguste in the early 13th Century.

An architectural team approves each year's building plans, after a master mason has sketched details from dozens of contemporary castles. Again, nothing that is not referenced in equivalent 13th Century buildings is permitted.

"Funnily enough, we found that even though we knew we were being accurate, somehow the castle lacked soul. So we invented a character - the owner - who would have likes and dislikes, wanting this and not wanting that," says Ms Preston.

Metalwork is forged on site in a project aiming for historical accuracy Seigneur Guilbert is a middle-ranking feudal lord, who has been granted the right to build his castle because he sided with the crown during a baronial rebellion in 1226.

The rebellion - at the accession of the 12-year-old Louis IX (later Saint Louis) - did actually take place, and was suppressed by his mother Blanche de Castile.

In the annals of Guedelon, construction started in 1228. Each year that passes is a year in historical time too, so we are now in 1240. Completion is due around 1253 - or 2023 in today's calendar.

What happens when the castle is finally finished, no-one is really sure. One option is to start extending.

"Remember, medieval castles were often works in progress. In the 15th Century they might have added new bits with different architectural styles, and then again and again," says Preston. "So we could keep going for ever."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/10440300.stm

http://www.guedelon.fr/

Is This the Safest House in the World?

by Mark David

Sunday, February 21, 2010

provided by

MainStreet

It wasn't so long ago that panic rooms were thought of as little more than a plot line for a Jodi Foster film or an expensive eccentricity of the paranoid. No more.

Nowadays, increasing numbers of homeowners are spending big bucks to have panic rooms, safe cores and other sorts of high-tech security systems installed in their home to ensure their family and possessions are kept safe from intrepid intruders and other calamitous events.

One residence, located high in the hills above Los Angeles, goes several steps further than a simple but effective panic room. The lavish and luxurious appointments of the sky-high mansion discreetly hide and disguise a security system so tight that it just may be the safest house in the world.

Modern-Day Fortress

The modern-day fortress was designed and built in 2002 by Al V. Corbi, a renowned authority on residential and yacht security. Corbi's stock in trade is designing integrated systems with detection, deterrence, defensive and offensive options. The heavily fortified and super secure residence occupies an easily defended promontory with 360-degree views. The well-defended dwelling stands five stories tall, measures almost 8,000 square feet and includes 32 rooms that all sit atop a virtually impenetrable batcave-like garage that will hold six, preferably armored, cars.

Safe and Luxurious

When not aiding the defense and security of its occupants, the fortress-like home functions like any other well-appointed mansion with deluxe creature comforts such as an elevator for whisking folks from the garage level to the living levels, a gourmet kitchen with granite counter tops and commercial grade appliances, two offices, a wine cellar and a home theater.

Buy Some Peace of Mind

The home's real luxury is, of course, the ensured safety of its inhabitants. Should an intruder manage to breach the extensive exterior security measures that include comprehensive surveillance abilities, there are two hidden panic rooms and two architecturally invisible "safe cores."

The safe cores consist of entire sections of the residence that can be isolated from the rest of the home and where the homeowner can retreat in complete safety -- not to mention luxury -- from an outside threat that might include an intruder, a natural disaster or even a nuclear, biological or chemical attack.

The homeowner declined to discuss some of the specifics of the heavy-duty security set up out of obvious concern that it could compromise the overall system. This means they're not going to tell this writer or anyone else but the next owner that the property is equipped with semi-automatic weaponry that can be remotely controlled from the panic room(s). It may not be, but then again, maybe it is.

Room for Refugees

In addition to the handicap-accessible guest suite, the seriously safe house has five bedrooms and eight bathrooms including a master suite with panoramic views, a fireplace, a luxurious bathroom and a custom-fitted dressing room that would satisfy any clothes horse with a penchant for high-powered security systems.

Whirly-Gig Accessible

The sprawling and tiled terrace on the roof takes full advantage of the 360-degree views that include Mount Baldy, the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the Pacific Ocean. There is also a built-in barbecue center and a spa situated under the heliport designed for emergency evacuations in the event of a home intrusion or for fire emergencies.

The Price of Safety

While it can be tough to put a price of the safety and security of one's family, in this case the tab is $7.25 million.

For more information and details on the safest house in the world, contact Bob Hurwitz (phone number (310) 477-8865 ) at the Hurwitz James Company in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Hay presto! Farmer unveils the 'illegal' mock-Tudor castle he tried to hide behind 40ft hay bales

Hiding a needle in a haystack is easy enough.

But Robert Fidler kept something much bigger concealed among the piles of straw down on his farm... a castle.

Over the course of two years, he managed to secretly – and unlawfully – build the imposing mock Tudor structure in one of his fields, shielded behind a 40ft stack of hay bales covered by a huge tarpaulins.

The family hid the house behind hay bales 40ft high for four years while it was being built - in a failed bid to avoid having to apply for planning permission

An Englishman's home is his castle: The Fidlers dream home complete with ramparts and cannons

Once it was finished, he and his family moved in and lived there for four years before finally revealing the development – complete with battlements and cannons – in August 2006.

Mr Fidler claims that because the building has been there for four years with no objections, it is no longer illegal.

But he is under siege from council planners, who say the castle at Honeycrock Farm, Salfords, Redhill, Surrey, will have to be knocked down.

"I can't believe they want to demolish this beautiful house," said 59-year-old Mr Fidler. "To me they are no different than vandals who just want to smash it down."

Mr Fidler, a farmer, erected the disguise in 2000 out of hundreds of 8ftx4ft bales of straw and covered the top with blue tarpaulin.

The Fidler's country kitchen is located in the turret of their 'castle'

After building the castle on the site of two grain silos at a cost of £50,000, he and his wife Linda went to extraordinary lengths to keep it secret. That included keeping their son Harry, now seven, away from playschool the day he was supposed to do a painting of his home in class.

"We couldn't have him drawing a big blue haystack – people might asked questions," said 39-year-old Mrs Fidler.

Mr Fidler, who has five children from a previous marriage, said: "We moved into the house on Harry's first birthday, so he grew up looking at straw out of the windows.

"We thought it would be a boring view but birds nested there and feasted on the worms. We had several families of robins and even a duck made a nest and hatched 13 ducklings on top of the bales."

But neighbours were unimpressed.

One said: "Nobody thought anything of it when the hay went up. It was presumed he was building a barn or something similar.

"It was a complete shock when the hay came down and this castle was in its place. Everyone else has to abide by planning laws, so why shouldn't they?"

Problems began last April when Mr Fidler, thinking he had beaten the planning system, applied for a certificate of lawfulness which is given if a property is erected but nobody objects to it after four years.

But Reigate and Banstead Council says the four-year period after which the building would be allowed to stay is void – because nobody had been given a chance to see it.

The matter will now be decided in February by the council's planning inspector, who could give the Fidlers as little as six months to tear the castle down.

The family are not alone in falling foul of planning laws.

Last November pensioners Eileen and Eamonn Kelly were told they would face prison unless they demolished the one-bedroom extension on their semi-detached home in Swanley, Kent after planners said it was "out of keeping" with the area.

More recently around a dozen Britons living in Spain have had their homes torn down after a clampdown on illegally built properties built on the coastline.

A spokeswoman for the Reigate council said: "Mr Fidler has built the house without planning permission, not sought retrospective planning permission and now claims it is legal because it has been up for four years.

"We don't think the four-year rule applies because it had been hidden behind bales of hay."

I guess I'll start at the begining.

Rex mixers were built by the Rex Chain Belt corp out of Wisconson. The chain belt invention actully started

http://www.pitt.edu/~caram/castleindex.htm

The great hall is really where this castle shines in my opinion. Bit of a shame the property is so small, and you can see modern homes close by.

If I choose build an authentic castle, I don't plan on living in the "Dark Ages".....sorry...bad pun! Whether I build a castle or a small house, I plan to make use of as much alternative energy sources as I am able.

Meg/ Dunc....feel free to move, modify or whatever at will.

Straight-line winds reported at 50 mph in Owasso Oklahoma crumbled a $4.7 million hotel that was under construction, which was a wood-frame topped with a roof said the president of the Tulsa-based general contractor for the hotel.

"It's huge," he said. "Cleanup will take weeks and weeks."

Workers were about four months into construction of the 89-room hotel, which was scheduled to be completed by late September. No injuries were reported.

He also said the fact that no windows had been installed in the hotel may have played a role in its collapse. {huh??? say that again please??}

"The wind gets in, and a lot of times it will lift the roof, causing a domino effect," he said.

He said 50 mph winds were sufficient to topple the structure. {4 story motel and only 50 mph winds ......Scary!! }

"With a big structure like that, anytime you have things propped up and nailed together in that fashion, with a wind like that, bad things are going to happen," he said.

He said it all folks!! :wacko:

images to follow

Which of the options is easy to build?

Which of the options is the best to build?

Stone Block

Concrete Forms

Concrete Block

The Castle that I want to build is not going to be a big one say something thats over 2-3 levels high, no more than 3000sf

I guess some would call it a manor house yet I do not want the manor house look, which of these would be my best option?

I was thinking of something like Old Cross Castle here are some pics of that Castle and or Foley

I also would like to add that I plan on doing all of the work myself that I can, so which method would be better suited for a regular Joe?

I thought some folks might find this interesting. I don't know who this site belongs to, but what they built was really neat. The construction techniques they used are the same as what anyone today could use to build a "castle", whether it be usign an ashlar method, brick, rubble, concrete or even a facade. Obviously, for this little item foundations and codes were likely not much of a concern as they would be for a full-fledged building. Anyway, just seeing the sequence of events as the folly goes up is neat, as well as the methods of building the spiral staircase and arches.

Thought you all might enjoy this.

EDIT: I did figure out that the site is created by an individual that produces suits of armor:

http://www.ye16.dial.pipex.com/