Cumin

Cumin

Our aim was to design a cowshed on the terms of its occupants. The design is based on many interviews with people who work with cows. It is shaped like a cumin seed, simply because cows love wild cumin.
A piece of yellow ‘cheese’, the bulls’ ‘lounge’, is attached onto the side of the building. The walls and the roof of the cowshed are made of wood lef t over from the process of making planks from trees.
Cows are social animals. They can move around freely and find their own space along the oval area, inside which the calves reside. In this way, the cows can have eye contact with each other, as well as with the calves. This is a new way of placing the cows in relation to the calves. Normally the calves are put in a separate space.
Since cows like being in woodland, a forest was made for them from old telephone poles, which also suppor t the roof. The entire cowshed was made of recycled materials, and there is even a skylight, made of recycled greenhouse plastic, so that the cows can admire the stars at night.
The solution for heat insulation is simple: the cows grow a thicker coat when it gets cold. This allows them to exercise outdoors even in the winter time.

An environmentally-friendly cowshed for 50 cows in Teuva, 1997.