straw bale

One of the top frequently-asked-questions we get here at Building Green is "I love the dramatic look of Kevin's house, but it's not quite my style. Does all straw bale construction have to look earthy and rustic?" The answer is no, and nothing illustrates the point better than the Stroh Haus, a thoroughly modernist project built using compressed straw. Check out our friend Jetson Green's blog for a great set of images of the house.

If you want to learn more about compressed straw as a building material, an excellent primer from Environmental Building News can be found here. Even if you're remodeling or building conventionally, you can reap benefits from considering strawboard panels for interior wall construction. According to Toolbase Services, strawboard is easier to work with than studs and drywall, and can yield cost savings of 18-22%. For more inspiration, visit our Straw Bale Workshop.

The day is getting hotter, and house is staying cool, without contraption or expense - six years in a passive solar house taught us lots of lessons. Lesson One: it took the house one FULL year to become functional. It needed time to "charge", will coolness and heat, to adjust to solar cycle. Lesson Two: Close the windows in the morning (that is for summer days, of course) - inside is between 72F and 75F (in the greenhouse), outside anywhere from 86F to 100F. read more about our house and how it cleans its own waste at http://www.permaculture.org/nm/index.php/site/Permaculture-Our-House/