Building a Non Waste Community in Normandy

Project Q

This fall our international expedition will take us to Normandy, to ‘project Q’ which is an offspring of Hollands most radical circular architects office: Superuse Studios. 

HiQ is a site in Normandy featuring woodland, fields and a waterfall at the source of the river Vire. The compound comprises an old farmhouse undergoing constant renovation, a garden with camping pitches and workshops for a wide range of crafts. It is surrounded by a natural area teeming with wildlife. There is an outdoor kitchen, a few simple guest rooms, a large sleeping barn and plenty of space for camping. Children are welcome.

The site runs almost entirely on solar power and wood; rainwater is filtered and drunk, and anything that can be composted goes onto the compost heap. A small core team is permanently working on this ecological, low-tech experimental zone. At this growing site – a place for living, building and sharing – we are welcome from 21–26 September during the Chantier, when a larger group of people will join the team, to work or to rest or both.

We will stay at the farm or at the nearby old factory and adapt to its 24hrs cycle of sleeping, working, cooking, eating, talking, learning and resting. Under guidance of Superuse founder Césare Peeren and a local loam expert we will isolate the granite farmhouse from the inside using loam sourced from the farm itself, work in the garden or do woodwork; we will cook vegetables from the farm next door on a futuristic looking solar oven, pick our own lunch and we’ll experience living in a community based on the commons and a barter economy instead of a monetary economy.  

We will discover the surroundings and lie in the grass reading a book. In the evening we will talk about the patriarchy and climate change, about how to make French cheese without animal proteins, or about whatever comes up. The only day we need to go to the supermarket is on Saturday, to get drinks for the party!

And hopefully after a week we will have not just learned some basic hands-on skills but also feel empowered about the makeability of a future beyond waste, beyond fossil fuel, beyond exploitation and extraction. We just have to start.

Project Q is close to Vire (Normandy). It can be reached by train, there are (some) bedrooms available, a shared sleeping barn and places to pitch your tent. We have space for 10 participants. Sign up soon!

If you want to stay longer or come earlier, let us know.

Workshop Schedule

21–26 September
Building a Non-Waste Community by learning how to isolate a granite farmhouse using loam, work in the garden or doing woodwork, while experience living in a community based on the commons and a barter economy instead of a monetary economy. 

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About Superuse Studios

Superuse Studios is an international architecture collective for circular and sustainable design. They consider design as part of a circular process: a phase in a continuous cycle of creation and recreation, use and reuse. Superuse on Site is an offspring of the office, focused at self sufficient living for housing coops.