An arts centre which is beginning to take shape in Portarlington, Co Laois, will be no ordinary rehearsal hall because it will be built entirely of straw, with a roof of turf.
The Laois Youth Arts Eco Rehearsal Space Project, which is the idea of Cabrini Cahill, the Laois Youth Arts Officer, should be ready by the end of the summer and will be constructed almost entirely by voluntary labour.
Ms Cahill, a native of the county and a Trinity College graduate, said the idea of using alternative building methods came to her when she became irritated at having to use a series of village halls with poor acoustics and poorer facilities.
"I thought that we must have proper rehearsal space and find a way to pay for it. The idea of a straw structure came to mind," she says.
With the help of the Three Rock Institute in Dublin and an expert in building in straw, Norita Clesham, she began to examine the feasibility of the project.
"Everything seemed to fall into place and one of the first breakthroughs was when the award-winning architect, Michael Rice, who is based here, offered his services free of charge."
Michael Rice, who is well known for his environmentally-friendly developments, saw the building of the centre as an important development.
Ms Cahill says that when word went around about the centre people began to offer their services free or to donate materials.
Late last year the National Millennium Committee awarded the project a grant of £55,000 to build the centre.
This week the final piece of the jigsaw fell into place when the ESB announced it had donated a site for the centre on land it owns in Portarlington.
Ms Cahill said the straw building would be in the shape of a crannog. It will have a centre rehearsal space with satellite spaces radiating from the centre.
"The walls will be built of straw bales, plastered, and there will be a turf roof with grass on it. We will also grow our own flowers there to add to the colour," she says.
"It fulfils virtually every requirement because it will be built at the lowest possible cost, will have a low environmental impact, and we will make it a beautiful place to work."
She says the main building will be at least 60-ft in diameter and the rehearsal space will be capable of being divided into three sound-proofed smaller units.
There will be a large opening to allow access to the courtyard for outdoor performances, and the building will also contain a sprung dance floor.
Ms Cahill plans an area for visiting players, a film photography space, a music space in which bands can rehearse, an art room, an office and a shop located in smaller buildings off the main structure.
Ms Cahill, a theatre and drama graduate, artist and actress, believes that this, the first purpose-built structure of its kind in the Republic, will meet all the needs of youth arts in the county.
She praises the rural development company Laois LEADER, which set up Laois Youth Arts to develop the artistic projects of young people in the county aged between 12 and 25, and is also grateful for the support given to her by Tom O'Brien and Ann Goodwin of the company.
She is currently putting together a team of 20 young volunteers who will build the centre in the summer under the guidance of a project manager and a building expert, Barbara Jones from the UK.
The telephone number of the Youth Arts Development Office is 0502-63572 or, at the LEADER offices, 0502-61900.