Two single pitched roofs collect rain water from the adjacent shed and guides it to water tanks outside the shed. These water tanks then feed a water trough which sits, half inside and half outside to provide water to both the yard and the shed.

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On a tight budget it was essential to reuse and recycle as many materials as possible. Around the site itself was a selection of available salvaged materials that were incorporated in the design, including: red brick, ESB poles, galvanised roof sheeting, steels for foundation, structural timbers and the timber cladding (a series of pre-cut plywood panels that slot together, previously assembled during the 2011 Commonage Summer School as a temporary installation).

The Cowshed Collective were invited by Commonage to design and run a workshop to build a cowshed in Callan, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, as part of the 2012 annual Commonage Summer School which ran from the 1st - 17th August. The Summer School sees participants with a wide range of backgrounds come to learn and experience the physical relationships between design and construction.

With that in mind, the construction process of the project became the driving force behind the design. The building itself consists of a brick ground floor to provide space to hand milk two cows and hold their calves. Above this is a timber clad hay loft, which is accessed by a staircase in the existing adjacent shed.
 

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Video of construction sequence