Tŷ Unnos - the overnight house

Based on the Welsh tradition that if you start building a house at sunset, and have smoke coming out of its chimney by dawn, the land is yours for the distance that you can throw an axe from its front door. Originating in the 17th century, the tŷ unnos ('one-night house’) tradition was a response to land enclosures that drove farmers from the traditional commons. Few of the original structures exist today, as they were built out of materials such as wattle and daub, but they were rebuilt over time out of more permanent materials, and there are many such small houses across Wales that historians believe to be the legacy of the tŷ unnos practice. Our project was conceived by Citrus Arts, a circus and performing arts organisation based in Pontypridd. The vision was to make the construction of Tŷ Unnos into a public performance, to raise awareness of the legend and open up conversations about access to land, affordable housing and solutions to the housing crisis. Our construction strategy was to prefabricate panels to make up the walls, roof and floor, which were all bolted together on site on Pontypridd Common. The frames are UK grown Douglas Fir, with Larch wall cladding and cedar roof shingles. The structure was built by local young people, as part of an apprenticeship scheme, and they practised many times to get the build time down to just under an hour. As the sun set on the common on the evening of Friday 13th October, an audience of over 200 people watched as the house took shape, accompanied by live music and fire drawings, culminating with the ceremonial lighting of the wood burning stove to make smoke rise from the chimney.