I remember that when I attended the Natural Building Colloquium in Kingston, NM in the fall of 2015 there was a fellow named Matt Anderson going around filming and interviewing people. He was part of Earth Lodge Studio, and the result of all this filming was a documentary entitled “What’s a Colloquium?: An Oral History … Read more
The Last Straw recently published this Oral History of The Straw Building Revival with Matts Myhrman The Last Straw: So, Matts, when you were younger did you have any sense that you would end up building with bales? Matts Myhrman: Not in the slightest. My dad was quite a good carpenter and he started me … Read more
The work of Patrick O’Brien and his Salamander Group has spanned decades, with curiosity playing a role in leading him from conventional home building in urban Detroit to exploring alternative building in Taos, New Mexico. In 1995, he and his wife bought land near Taos and built the first of many straw bale homes that … Read more
The new French environmental regulations position natural materials as a priority for a sustainable future in construction, in both housing and public buildings. Wood, straw, hemp, reed or bamboo, in combination with earth or stone for their high thermal inertia, offer virtuous alternatives to the use of cement. Straw-bale construction was developed in the 1880s … Read more
The Strawtegi CO2ttage broke ground in October, 2021, as the first permitted structure in the U.S. insulated with dense-packed chopped straw. This net-zero carbon, modular, straw panel Accessory Dwelling Unit in Salt Lake City, Utah, is the first demonstration project and test build of Strawtegi, Inc. The 650 square foot building demonstrates how we can … Read more
Diane Ferguson, a former environmental health professor, has always dreamed of building a house made of natural materials. Her ideal home has about 650 straw bales stacked together with bamboo stakes driven through them. The straw is then plastered on the interior with an earthen plaster and the exterior with limestone plaster. Diane worked with … Read more