Richard Kroeker

Long Cove Studio

Long Cove studio was a small building constructed to further explore the potential for use of small diameter spruce round wood to build housing. The trees were harvested form the site and bent into trusses while green. No large dimensioned wood was used in the construction. The interior is clad with a raw earth mix of local sand, clay and plant fibre from cat-tail rushes. The basic method is a variation of the construction system developed for the West Wing in Eskasoni and for the Pictou Landing First Nation health centre. Aside from serving as a studio and workshop, the building is a prototype method for building homes in forested regions that would use local materials and skills rather than resorting to shipping in expense pre-fabricated buildings that provide very little employment. The project was built together with students from the Dalhousie University School of Architecture.