House of Straw

[evenstar]

Strawlady, a friend of JW's, (We won't hold that against her Jim ) registered as a member in November; check out the house she built from straw bales....absolutely amazing! The photo slideshow shows the house during its construction from the ground up.

http://www.houseofstraw.com/
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John Richardson and Richie Rich, El Perro de Playero
http://members.tripod.com/~evenstar/index.html
http://www.arizonahikers.com
When the Man waked up he said, "What is Wild Dog doing here?" And the Woman said, "His name is not Wild Dog anymore, but the First Friend, because he will be our friend for always and always and always. Take him with you when you go hunting."
--Rudyard Kipling, from Just So Stories, 1902

[Shawn]

Very cool, what a ton of work!
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The bear went over the mountain to see what he could see.

[wanderingsoul]

Wow I've heard of these but never actually seen one.. Very different and unique.
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Wanderingsoul (Michelle)

Positive Thinking Is the Spark that Makes Dreams Happen~~~Unknown

[azbackpackr]

That is so nice. The finishing touches are so pretty, too! I hope her gorgeous view is public land so it won't be filled up with mobile homes!

What general area is it in, anyway? Very pretty.

[strawlady]

Hi,
I'm the crazy person who built a house out of straw and mud when I knew nothing about construction. But it turned out to be the best thing I ever did. It's in the Picture Rocks area of NW Tucson and fortunately the developers are staying away so far. I think its partly because the access road through the Tucson mountains is a state road running through a national park, so it will take at least a decade for all involved to figure out whether they can widen it. But also, I'm in a wildcat subdivision with dirt roads and septic tanks - zoned one house per acre mostly and no CCR's. The developers seem to be crawling up the freeway and ignoring us. Yeah! The house cost $50,000 to build 5 years ago (materials mostly, very little labor paid out) - walls are made from straw bales from Casa Grande, load bearing design where the roof rests right on the bales. It's a rectangle with a long south wall and sunroom - that's my only heating - the sun. Just like those passive-solar cliff dwellings, except no firepit in the middle. Similarly, I have lots of thermal mass inside from earthen plasters and an earthen floor. The sun heats the mass and the house stays warm all night. It was a ton of work, but the hardest part is often finding land where one is allowed to do this. CCR's are sooo restrictive these days. But its perfect for our climate and a way fun little hobbit house in the desert.
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Twenty years from now you'll be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So . . . explore, dream, discover. - Twain

[PageRob]

The new (well, its several years old now) paleontology museum at Ghost Ranch in northern New Mexico is all Straw Bale too. Neat building, both yours and theirs.
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Anywhere is within walking distance if you spend the time.

[IGO]

Pretty cool.
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"Surely all God's people, however serious or savage, great or small, like to play. Whales and elephants, dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small mischievous microbes - all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them." John Muir

[GeorgAz]

That's awesome, Strawlady! Kudos to you! A friend is an architectural renderer and he is so into that form of eco-construction. I will forward to him. Good job!