Forgotten Construction Technique with Modern Design and Sustainability Coming Straight from Serbia – First House Made from Hemp
The first house made from hemp that has been built in Serbia on the Bela Reka farm, in the intact nature of the Homolje Mountains, has won the Grand Prix at the 44th Architecture Salon in Belgrade. As Predrag Milosavljevic, the creator and initiator of the concept, the founder of Hemplicity.co, says for eKapija, the project has opened new, wider perspectives for everybody about what’s possible – fitting in a modern design, meeting European standards, using natural materials and being economically acceptable on top of that:
– I will be glad to see new ideas and solutions that architects inspired by this project and my concept will develop. The project is unique for its self-sustainable concept, because the residential facility made from hemp has next to it a glass greenhouse dug into the ground, and the importance of this independence has been shown in the past two years.
This is the most modern innovation in green building – a combination of industrial hemp, lime and water. Hemp is resistant to mold and humidity, resistant to pests and rodents, resistant to fire, features a high degree of thermal insulation and saves energy up to 80%, there’s no waste or toxins, and the material is healthy to the environment.
– The idea arose when I was making the concept of a house that could return us to the periphery, to rural areas. I thereby started studying various kinds of natural building. I worked with mud and straw houses, straw-bale houses, but the moment I met hemp, I realized it was a material of the future.
Four years ago, when we built the first house made from hemp, most people had never heard of the material and it took time for people to see it and recognize it. Now hemp is increasingly used in construction worldwide and it is only now that this manner of construction is becoming prominent and it will only become more prominent. This material has opened a perspective for us that it is possible to build using ecological and natural materials in the city as well – Milosavljevic believes.
“It’s enough to have one sleepover in such a house to want to live in it yourself”
A house of 100 m2 can be built in seven to 10 days. This pertains to the filling of the walls if you already have a structure that you had made according to the standard construction principles, our interviewee explains. If hemp blocks (building blocks made from hemp) are used, it takes the same amount of time as for the construction of a traditional house. Another bonus is that there is no need for additional insulation, and walls don’t have to be chiseled in order for the installations to be set up either.
He adds that people find this idea very interesting precisely because they are eager to use natural materials and return to nature and life in synergy with it.
– The concept according to which the house was built is special and unique. Construction using hemp is specific and perhaps new to people, but in fact, this technique is centuries old, except that it was forgotten a long time ago – our interviewee says.
He believes that people need to be especially educated regarding this manner of construction, so that they would get answers to the uncertainties they have and at the same time be introduced to the advantages that this choice brings.
– There is no doubt that, for everybody who has touched a hemp wall and stayed in one such house, all the additional questions are answered and that’s what people want for themselves. It is only then that they realize what the difference is between cold materials such as brick, concrete or styrofoam, which are not good at all for people’s health. It’s enough to have one sleepover in such a house to feel healthier and to want to have a hemp house yourself – Milosavljevic points out.
– I will be glad to see new ideas and solutions that architects inspired by this project and my concept will develop. The project is unique for its self-sustainable concept, because the residential facility made from hemp has next to it a glass greenhouse dug into the ground, and the importance of this independence has been shown in the past two years.
This is the most modern innovation in green building – a combination of industrial hemp, lime and water. Hemp is resistant to mold and humidity, resistant to pests and rodents, resistant to fire, features a high degree of thermal insulation and saves energy up to 80%, there’s no waste or toxins, and the material is healthy to the environment.
– The idea arose when I was making the concept of a house that could return us to the periphery, to rural areas. I thereby started studying various kinds of natural building. I worked with mud and straw houses, straw-bale houses, but the moment I met hemp, I realized it was a material of the future.
Four years ago, when we built the first house made from hemp, most people had never heard of the material and it took time for people to see it and recognize it. Now hemp is increasingly used in construction worldwide and it is only now that this manner of construction is becoming prominent and it will only become more prominent. This material has opened a perspective for us that it is possible to build using ecological and natural materials in the city as well – Milosavljevic believes.
“It’s enough to have one sleepover in such a house to want to live in it yourself”
A house of 100 m2 can be built in seven to 10 days. This pertains to the filling of the walls if you already have a structure that you had made according to the standard construction principles, our interviewee explains. If hemp blocks (building blocks made from hemp) are used, it takes the same amount of time as for the construction of a traditional house. Another bonus is that there is no need for additional insulation, and walls don’t have to be chiseled in order for the installations to be set up either.
He adds that people find this idea very interesting precisely because they are eager to use natural materials and return to nature and life in synergy with it.
– The concept according to which the house was built is special and unique. Construction using hemp is specific and perhaps new to people, but in fact, this technique is centuries old, except that it was forgotten a long time ago – our interviewee says.
He believes that people need to be especially educated regarding this manner of construction, so that they would get answers to the uncertainties they have and at the same time be introduced to the advantages that this choice brings.
– There is no doubt that, for everybody who has touched a hemp wall and stayed in one such house, all the additional questions are answered and that’s what people want for themselves. It is only then that they realize what the difference is between cold materials such as brick, concrete or styrofoam, which are not good at all for people’s health. It’s enough to have one sleepover in such a house to feel healthier and to want to have a hemp house yourself – Milosavljevic points out.
From a cup to a cooling plant
Hemplicity also offers ideas for pre-fabricated facilities, children’s houses and cooling plants.
Our portal’s interviewee believes that we should build kindergartens and schools from this material, because it is precisely children at that age that are the most sensitive to bronchitis, asthma and allergies, which are absent in such facilities.
– Also, my idea is to make cooling plants from this material. Additional research is needed, but if we went in this direction, we would be the first ones to make ecological cooling plants built from this material. They would feature solar panels which would provide the power for the cooling plant itself – reveals Predrag Milosavljevic.
Furthermore, they also offer the Cannaterra brand, which unifies natural food products from hemp, but also The Cup, a biodegradable cup with a seed at the bottom, which can be planted.
Expansion of hemp
Our interviewee reminds that hemp has been pushed to the side for years so that it wouldn’t experience the kind of boom it deserves and that Yugoslavia used to be the world’s second biggest exporter of hemp.
He also says that a great boom of interest in this material and all products made from hemp is happening in the world, which stimulates the economy and expands it in a positive direction. He adds that this same interest is present in Serbia as well:
– Due to the great demand, there’s deficit of the material, and the supply and demand are soon to balance each other out. A total of 50,000 products can be made from this plant, and houses and construction materials are only some among them. This plant can help us fight pollution, it can replace the paper whose production requires the cutting of forests, it can replace the plastic that would be biodegradable. This is a plant that will help us live better in the future.
When it comes to plans for the future, Milosavljevic says that the goal is to hire as many aware investors that recognize this idea and have similar goals as possible and to interest them to invest in hemp and its facilities, as well as the prosperity and the future of the country and the world.
– That’s the idea behind our slogan, which says “We Are Building the Future Now”. At this very moment, we are consciously choosing what’s best for us. We will stimulate the economy which carries great potentials. The positioning of big funds and countries that have started investing in the production of this plant has begun in the world. I hope that we will be able to join that race as soon as possible and realize a big return based on the past glory that we carry in our ancestors’ genes – our interviewee concludes.
About the first house made from hemp
The house made from hemp is elongated in form and stretches above the highest plateau, floating above the landscape. The elongated form is matched with generous window openings from the floor to the ceiling. The facility has two floors, and the main program is arranged on the upper floor within the mutually connected spatial octagonal scheme (honeycomb structure) which gives priority to fluidity and visual and physical communication.
The house has two bedrooms with separate balconies, a living room with a fireplace and a 360-degree view, an “open space” dining room with a kitchen, which is also the central part of the house. It also has a winery, a sauna and a basement part, as well as a glass greenhouse.
The master apartment with a bathroom, which provides a view to the north side of the facility, is located in a separate part of the house.
The interior takes up 228 m2, the basement has 55 m2 + 38 m2 of the glass greenhouse. The floor is 135 m2, with balconies of 90 m2, which surround the entire facility.
The architects are the Serbian-Swiss team consisting of Ljubica Arsic and Daniel Fuchs, and Aleksandar Simonovic is the associate. The construction started in 2017 and took four years to be completed.
The plan is for 33 similar self-sustaining facilities to be located within 600 hectares.
Aleksandra Kekic