Dome 10 Bulles de Simon et Laetitia (2012-2015) Epernay, Reims, Champagne 51160
Maison Bulle in Champagne !
the duration of their construction : 2012 – 2015
Laetitia and Simon informed me that their building permit had been granted to them.
They still had to finalize the purchase of the land.
Ground plan – Laetitia & Simon
From the first thoughts, we tried to design the house in a way to optimize travel and heating : a central living room, combined kitchen and bathroom, reasonable volumes, openings to the south…
Self-builder of a concrete veil house, at Germaine !
The configuration of the terrain, son relief, the shade of big oaks in summer, the little stream, the perspective on the forest ... a superb setting which deserves to be taken into account.
Constraints in the eyes of some but for us a natural way of designing its habitat…
bubble house model polystyrene balls
After a first model in copper and plaster, we tried to model the house with polystyrene balls.
(Slovenia) Loading the Skydomes by Simon (to the left) and Luke.
Laéticia and Simon were on the road, direction Creuse at Chantal and Luc's place to collect their skydomes. During a discussion with Antoine Strauss, he proposed to continue the process and this is how we came to select a manufacturer of Skydomes in Slovenia, and a few months ago, Antoine organized a group order for Laetitia and Simon, Chantal and Luc..
Bubble house plot on Epernay.
The center of the different bubbles is materialized by a stake, pieces drawn with lime on the ground. We are better aware of the size of the house, one moves from one bubble to another and one would almost believe it…
Annoying trees are better identified, they will be slaughtered and will provide firewood for the future house.
After cleaning the stumps, earthwork of the different levels of the house, placement of a layer of rock we attacked the reinforcement of the raft. The junctions between the bubbles are not easy to make, but several days later the house takes shape.
remove it before concreting the house.
Concrete raft
How to concret the raft ? We started by making a belt around the house and between the different levels in order to then fill with concrete by bringing in tops. The problem is that we cannot organize a team to distribute the quantity of concrete needed that could be delivered over a day ... So we are moving slowly but surely to the concrete mixer : 220 liters of concrete at each batch represents almost 1,5 m², it will be long. Another important parameter : dead leaves blown away by the wind, fall while swirling… It is magnificent but also a real nightmare when they slip into the reinforcement ! All the more reason to finish concreting quickly.
The concrete marathon is finally over ! Installation of the central mast on a tinkered foot with a bastaing and installation of the first meridians, simply bent by gravity. Practical side of the mason's forestay : you can modify the height of the bubble and thus obtain a more or less "crushed" shape and really adjust the volume and the curvature of the partitions, but the irons tend to lift the mast that we had to ballast. The next masts will be fixed directly on the raft and the acquisition of a rolling machine should also help us.
the raft is finally concreted at Laetitia and Simon's.
Putting irons on the first bubbles, volumes take shape, the house appears among the trees, magic works !
We must tame these bars of irons that want to resume their rectilinear shape : the parallels are wound on our house bender, they take a curvature which facilitates their positioning.
in
We received Simon and Laeticia before their project and we answered their questions during the work. They did an excellent job without benefiting from the experience of Antti Lovag.
We wish to resume on our site by a link what is here. OK ?
Yes of course, it will make me a little publicity for my Bubblemania 🙂
You should correct for Laetitia with a T instead of a C