The Exbury Egg: a home or workplace shaped like an egg, built from natural resources and inspired by nesting seabirds. You might think you are dreaming, but it exists in the United Kingdom. An egg with the size of a small student dorm, created from wood, floating on the Beaulieu river in the UK. Are you familiar with this piece of art?
What is this egg?
On the shore of the river Beaulieu, you will find a teeny tiny house called the Exbury Egg, designed by Stephen Turner. The artist created the egg with the help of PAD studios and SPUD design studios. Turner designed the egg as an artwork, a place where you both can work and sleep, a place to think, to explore life around you. The egg is a kind of boat, tethered in the Beaulieu river in Exbury, rising and falling with the tide.
A calendar of all seasons
You can see the egg as a blueprint of life: an egg symbolises new life, renewal, protection and fragility. The cool thing about the egg is that it is made of wood, so it evolves and changes by time, as the wind scours it, and the sea bleaches it.
How does it look like?
You can see at the picture above that it is an egg-shaped building. Inside you will find Turner’s collection of found objects, digital imagery of his surroundings and personal maps. The egg has all the necessities you need, such as a desk, a hammock to relax, a kitchen with a stove and sink. There is no running water, but the artist was smart to use a hosepipe. He made use of solar charges because there is also no electricity. Besides a workspace and a tiny home to stay, the Exbury Egg is also an educational tool, and local students are observing the design, the “building”, and the installation of the egg.
What was Turner’s main goal?
Turner wanted to develop something with natural elements so we can re-appraise the way we live. He hoped, with this egg-shaped building made out of wood, that we adequately consider sustainability as the future use of natural resources. The artist is interested in exploring a more empathetic relationship with nature, which shows the valuable and natural cycles and processes, and the relationship of the environment with the narratives of human activity.
https://www.whatsorb.com/solution/tiny-houses/tinyhouses