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House of Tapes

House of Tapes is a recent project by Emmett McNamara, a third year Architecture student at Edinburgh College of Art. The house or "folly", according to McNamara, which recently stood in the central courtyard of the College, was constructed using scaffolding and 7,200 tapes obtained from charity shops, old collections of friends and a tape dealer in Manchester. In this exclusive interview with Caroline Ednie, McNamara discusses the project, and "why we need to fall in love with materials again," according to McNamara. "There is so much stuff everywhere today. I think we should start to experiment with it more and above all else have some fun."

"As this was my own undertaking I didn't have a brief but I developed my own set of aims for the project over the course of a few months. I had been making lampshades out of cassette tapes as gifts for people so I was using them as a material while working on a number of projects in college that dealt with sustainable design. I always get slightly put off by the mainstream approach to reuse/ recycle/ green attitudes. A lot of the information put out there focuses on very negative aspects. 'Turn down your washing machine'; 'Turn off your lights'; 'Use less of everything'.

Of course we should be doing these things but taken as a whole the negative tone of 'you will have less if you are green' seeps into the broader psyche of people and that ends up contributing to people turning their backs on 'being green'. It becomes associated with having less which is crazy. Instead of 'hey, look at all the waste you produce - shame on you', it should be 'hey, look at all this cool stuff no one wants any more'. We are living in the age of stuff. It's absolutely everywhere. An approach to breaking down this negativity was to use materials with instantly recognisable emotional merits. Tapes are the perfect example. So precious to so many people for so many years. I remember making mix tapes for girls I liked. The first album I bought was a tape. Now they occupy charity shops and attics. I was hoping to use architecture to get these feelings across. I wanted people to inhabit a space and be instantly brought back to their younger days while the underlying message of reusing discarded materials is received in a more emotional frame of mind. I think there are great opportunities in that approach.

I initially intended to make a piece of art essentially but as I developed the idea I realised how much better it would be if it had a function too. That's the great thing about architecture, I suppose. You can try new things while providing a function. It was definitely driven by the concept in that I wanted people to think about discarded materials differently but it developed into a place for people to sit and have a drink or a smoke while chatting.

Considering I was essentially building a folly I was clear early on in my mind about the proportions. I am a huge fan of scaffolding. I find it fascinating. Watching scaffolding assembly is a truly mesmerising experience. Its such a versatile tough building material. I love how temporary and speedy it is to use, so its the perfect frame. It is also available in abundance. I have a small collection of it that I have bought for peanuts from builder's yards. I know students who have built extra rooms in their flats with it. That dictated the dimensions as they come in set sections. You can cut it but why bother? I think architects will start to think of things in those terms more and more. Nearly everything can be precast. I like the idea of an almost meccano approach to a build.

The House of Tapes stood for about two months in the central courtyard of the Edinburgh College of Art. It started to take some abuse from the weather and a few drunks due to its proximity to the Wee Red Bar but tapes are surprisingly robust. It was nice to think of people interacting with it even in a negative way. It was kind of sad to take it down.

There are a number of music festivals interested in it which would be nice. I hope to build another folly this summer so maybe the tapes will make another appearance but I also fancy making furniture with them. I love the thought of a big couch of tapes. It could be nice to just keep using them for different things. They aren't going anywhere so why not? As you reuse something, the embodied energy within the material is offset so if I can make 9 or 10 things it can start to undo any waste associated with it.

I think a one off project is very easy and fun to use as a vehicle for ideas. When it comes to the practicalities of designing large scale architecture it is a lot more difficult to express these ideas but that is part of the challenge we face. One would think greenfield projects are a lot easier to implement from a sustainable point of view but I find brownfield a lot more interesting. There are so many opportunities for re-use. I love the idea of reclaiming timber and bricks from those dilapidated abandoned industrial buildings that are dotted all over our towns and cities. Some of them used really expensive materials where a lot of energy has gone into producing them. To send it to landfill just doesn't make sense. I think it would be crazy to ignore the design potential of these materials.

When you start looking into the links between those materials and the history of the place a whole treasure trove of design inspiration is uncovered. I think someone like Michael Reynolds ('Earthship' builder) has laid the foundations for a more modern approach to reusing materials - and will eventually influence the mainstream. The worrying thing is how long it's taking and where sustainable design has veered in the direction of in the meantime. I think that in practice there is still a huge shift in attitude that needs to take place. It is all well and good making follies and pavilions while talking about underlying green principles but it probably won't get me a job on my year out! We do seem to be lacking a grand narrative in architectural style right now so it is the perfect time for a new direction to emerge. I want to be a part of that."