The Values of Straw Bale Houses

Straw bale houses are gaining popularity due to their ecological and sustainable nature. These unique homes are built using straw as either the primary structural element or insulation or both, providing a natural and renewable way of building. Straw bale homes offer exceptional insulation properties that help you keep your house warm during colder months … Read more

Why Patagonia’s Founder Built a Home Out of Straw

Architect Dylan Johnson with his longtime friend and Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard designed and built a straw bale home in the suburbs of Ventura, California. The straw is leftover from wheat, rice, or barley crops as the main structural element or insulation in a building. “There’s an enormous amount of money to be made with … Read more

Couple Builds a Straw Bale Home in Ohio

David and Carrie Chew live in a house made of straw. It has two bathrooms, a modern kitchen and a packed earthen floor. The exterior walls are made with stacked wheat straw bales covered in plaster. Proponents of modern straw-bale construction highlight the sustainability of sourcing materials from local farms and natural insulation provided by … Read more

Montana Couple Build Their Own Hybrid Cob House

Daniel and Katherine Ray first came across cob houses when they were in college. “We stumbled across a photo of a cob house in Wales and we got really interested, so we started collecting lots of pictures of other people’s cob houses. It was a pot-shot dream that we really wanted to do,” Ray said. … Read more

Showcase of Natural Building at OUR Ecovillage

Freya’s House is an off-grid green building that showcases multiple natural building techniques from straw bale, cob, and rammed earth walls, to earthen floors, a green roof, and reclaimed, salvaged and locally sourced materials. It uses solar power for electricity, a legal composting toilet, and on-site greywater filtration. The house is located at O.U.R Ecovillage … Read more

An Interview with Sigi Koko

www.motherearthnews.com interviewed Sigi Koko for a podcast that you can hear at that link. Below are some of her comments: I have a graduate degree in architecture and I then had worked for a construction company doing just conventional housing construction to get some experience building so that I could talk to builders better and … Read more