WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 1 00:00:00.150 --> 00:00:02.580 - This is the Hill House in south-west Scotland. 2 00:00:02.580 --> 00:00:06.056 It was built in 1902 using design and construction techniques that were 3 00:00:06.056 --> 00:00:07.610 years ahead of their time. 4 00:00:07.610 --> 00:00:09.750 It's an important bit of architectural history, 5 00:00:09.750 --> 00:00:11.870 but because it was years ahead of its time, 6 00:00:11.870 --> 00:00:13.500 it was also experimental. 7 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:16.650 It turns out that the house exterior just soaks up all the 8 00:00:16.650 --> 00:00:18.810 heavy Scottish rains, and lets the water in. 9 00:00:18.810 --> 00:00:21.670 120 years after it was built, this whole building 10 00:00:21.670 --> 00:00:24.520 is slowly cracking and crumbling and dissolving. 11 00:00:24.520 --> 00:00:27.180 The first step of saving this house is to dry it out, 12 00:00:27.180 --> 00:00:28.690 slowly and carefully. 13 00:00:28.690 --> 00:00:32.200 The problem is, it rains 190 days a year around here. 14 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:34.250 So the National Trust for Scotland 15 00:00:34.250 --> 00:00:37.352 had to build a very big drying room. 16 00:00:37.352 --> 00:00:40.520 - The Hill House is so important. It is globally known. 17 00:00:40.520 --> 00:00:42.680 We attract visitors from all over the world 18 00:00:42.680 --> 00:00:44.610 in a pilgrimage to come and visit the Hill House. 19 00:00:44.610 --> 00:00:47.283 Charles Rennie Mackintosh is definitely 20 00:00:47.283 --> 00:00:49.530 one of Scotland's most famous architects and designers. 21 00:00:49.530 --> 00:00:52.240 It is Mackintosh's domestic masterpiece 22 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:54.130 and really is so ahead of its time. 23 00:00:54.130 --> 00:00:56.000 When you walk through the front door, 24 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:58.040 when you picture what was essentially a Victorian family 25 00:00:58.040 --> 00:01:00.240 living in this house, you realise how forward-thinking 26 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:02.393 Mackintosh was in his design. 27 00:01:02.393 --> 00:01:05.701 He used a material called Portland cement on the exterior. 28 00:01:05.701 --> 00:01:08.550 There is no lime at all used on site as well. 29 00:01:08.550 --> 00:01:10.850 We're located in one of the wettest parts of Scotland 30 00:01:10.850 --> 00:01:14.300 in Helensburgh so it really was a recipe for disaster. 31 00:01:14.300 --> 00:01:15.580 The Hill House has been described 32 00:01:15.580 --> 00:01:18.410 as "dissolving like an aspirin in a glass of water". 33 00:01:18.410 --> 00:01:22.170 The box basically buys us some time to dry the house out, 34 00:01:22.170 --> 00:01:25.530 shelter it from around 86% of the elements. 35 00:01:25.530 --> 00:01:27.000 It acts like a giant umbrella 36 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:28.900 and shields the house from the weather. 37 00:01:28.900 --> 00:01:31.840 - The walls in this box are made of chainmail. 38 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:33.960 If you go and order a modern armour costume 39 00:01:33.960 --> 00:01:38.020 with a chainmail vest, it will be made of this same stuff. 40 00:01:38.020 --> 00:01:40.770 It's more than 30 million rings of stainless steel 41 00:01:40.770 --> 00:01:43.010 linked together, weighing eight tonnes. 42 00:01:43.010 --> 00:01:44.821 The roof catches most of the rain and the chain mail catches 43 00:01:44.821 --> 00:01:46.970 what blows in from the sides, 44 00:01:46.970 --> 00:01:49.480 but it also lets air through for ventilation. 45 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:52.530 It lets bees and other insects through to pollinate the plants in here. 46 00:01:52.530 --> 00:01:55.710 And it's all recyclable afterwards because it's steel. 47 00:01:55.710 --> 00:01:58.040 You just melt it down into something else. 48 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:02.090 - The box is made up of 32.4 million individual chain mail links 49 00:02:02.090 --> 00:02:06.330 that surround the house, in the worlds largest sheet of chain mail. 50 00:02:06.330 --> 00:02:08.637 In terms of construction, it took nine months. 51 00:02:08.637 --> 00:02:13.247 It really is one of a kind. It costs around £4,500,000. 52 00:02:13.247 --> 00:02:14.877 If you were to cover the house completely, 53 00:02:14.877 --> 00:02:17.347 it would be at risk of suffering from environmental shock 54 00:02:17.347 --> 00:02:19.457 and it would cause more damage than good. 55 00:02:19.457 --> 00:02:23.077 The box style allows the house to breathe, that is really important. 56 00:02:23.077 --> 00:02:25.777 It would dry out too quickly and it would cause damage 57 00:02:25.777 --> 00:02:29.967 to the exterior and, indeed, to the collection inside the property as well. 58 00:02:29.967 --> 00:02:31.334 Before, you were able to visit the house, 59 00:02:31.334 --> 00:02:33.487 and it was here on its own and it was amazing, 60 00:02:33.487 --> 00:02:36.007 but the box adds another level. 61 00:02:36.007 --> 00:02:37.817 There are walkways all around the property. 62 00:02:37.817 --> 00:02:39.507 You can walk around the perimeter of the house, 63 00:02:39.507 --> 00:02:41.137 even up and over the top, 64 00:02:41.137 --> 00:02:43.487 seeing the house from aspects that Mackintosh himself 65 00:02:43.487 --> 00:02:44.757 would never even have seen. 66 00:02:44.757 --> 00:02:47.907 What you're seeing at the Hill House is conservation in action. 67 00:02:47.907 --> 00:02:51.050 - They didn't need to add the staircases and gantries and ramps here. 68 00:02:51.050 --> 00:02:52.957 But if you block this house from public view 69 00:02:52.957 --> 00:02:55.907 for the 15 years it'll take to dry out and repair, 70 00:02:55.907 --> 00:02:57.927 then there's a chance the public are going to forget about it. 71 00:02:57.927 --> 00:03:00.207 It'll look like a construction site, an eyesore. 72 00:03:00.207 --> 00:03:01.677 If instead you highlight it, 73 00:03:01.677 --> 00:03:04.317 you create something one-of-a-kind like this box 74 00:03:04.317 --> 00:03:06.777 and you let the public see the house from angles 75 00:03:06.777 --> 00:03:09.247 that will likely never be possible again... 76 00:03:09.247 --> 00:03:12.047 well, then, you're not just preserving important architecture. 77 00:03:12.047 --> 00:03:12.880 You're promoting it. 78 00:03:12.880 --> 00:03:15.067 And for me, that's the cleverest part of all this. 79 00:03:15.067 --> 00:03:17.439 I wouldn't be here, you wouldn't be watching this, 80 00:03:17.439 --> 00:03:18.740 if it wasn't for the box. 81 00:03:32.857 --> 00:03:34.275 It was built in 1902-- 82 00:03:34.275 --> 00:03:35.546 [laughs] 83 00:03:35.546 --> 00:03:38.260 There's one more step than I thought there was there!