Possible?? Hmmm. Also click on link for bamboo structures. Simon Verez is an architect to look out for here. You can get some great forms from it and it doesn't have to be hidden like straw-bale construction often is.
Excerpt from article:
I like building with straw because -- even after working on relatively few buildings -- it's clear that it works better than wood. It's pure insulation with no energy leaks through the framing; with plaster, it just doesn't burn (try throwing your phone book into a fire), there are no openings for rodents and insects to run around, AND there's nothing there for them to eat anyway. Done right, the system is amazingly strong, putting plywood to shame (see testing results), but the most crucial advantage over conventional construction is that straw walls have quite a capacity to hold lots of water before any kind of rot can begin. In any building system, water will inevitably get into the assembly sometime, even if just from the breathing of the occupants or high humidity. But if composting can only begin once moisture reaches 28%, or if almost a third of the contents of that two foot thick wall of solid cellulose needs to be water, you have to REALLY be trying to get that wall so totally saturated that there are problems. Though I haven't worked in an extremely humid climate, I think straw is better suited for those conditions than wood framing with moisture-resisting fiberglass insulation because the moisture has no option other than sitting on the relatively small surface area of the wood framing.
The most important idea is avoid vapor barriers so the moisture can get out.
1 comment:
This is really good stuff. I reckon it could be perfect.
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