Huff 'n' Puff Constructions recommends the following sites.
I am trying to get as many links up as possible that relate to strawbale and sustainable building. But if some of the links don't work, or if you have any problems with any of the website, contact John Glassford
Bill and Athena Steen — The Canelo Project
The Steens are some of the early pioneers of strawbale building. Their book, The Straw Bale House (co-authors David Eisenebrg and David Bainbridge), is widely and very well regarded. Bill and Athena's website, with a wonderful gallery of some of their work, is just the best strawbale site on the internet.
If you cannot make it to one of their workshops then buy one of their books — you will not be dissapointed.
***** Didimala Game Lodge Straw Bale in South Africa. *****
Probably the largest straw bale building in the world. Enjoy this web site. Susan and I have visited Didimala and it is awesome and the cinema is something else; so are the fees to stay overnight. However you just have to visit it to see for yourselves. While you do come join us in Africa one day:
The National Greenbuild & Eco Show 2007 follows the excellent first Eco Show held in July 2006. It was well organised and well supported and can only get bigger and better for 2007. Huff 'n' Puff will be there in 2007 with our new and exiting development in sustainable building technology. TILT-UP panels made from straw and called SITUPS* tm.
Helen and Per Bernard from Dayelsford Victoria are a husband-and-wife team. Helen is the architect, and Per the Builder. They have designed and built some very special strawbale homes in Victoria and have an excellent website.
Paul Downton is an architect based in Adelaide. Paul's work is simply stunning and he is one of Australia's leading lights in sustainable design and building. We have assisted Paul and his team on three strawbale projects now. Look up his projects page and enjoy the work Paul has created right in the middle of the city.
Blue Rock Station Jay and Annie Warmke offer straw bale and a varierty of green building courses at their Blue Rock Station property in Ohio. Good web site with Llama riding as part of the package. If you are going to Ohio look them up and say G 'day to a fellow Rotarian.
Andrew Fulton both designs and builds strawbale homes in the ACT.
Graeme North is a partner of Warkworth Architects from Warkworth, New Zealand. Graeme has been involved in earthen, strawbale, and eco-architecture over the past 30 years. He has around 100 earthen architecture projects to his credit, with several strawbale buildings now built or in the pipeline.
Ian Redfern is doing some great work with strawbale. Take a look around his website for details of his New Zealand strawbale building workshops. Ian is from Whangarei in the North Island of NZ.
Chris and Colin Newton from Wolfdene (Beenleigh) in Queensland are building their own strawbale home and have an excellent website concentrating on sustainable building. Colin is a structural engineer and has certified strawbale homes in Queensland.
Probably one of the most important websites for Aussie strawbalers is this one by Australian Greenhouse. The information was provided by Paul Downton and edited by the Straw Wolf. The information is accurate and is very helpful when approaching your local council for approval.
Alan Gray, editor of the Earth Garden magazine, has got right behind strawbale building in Australia. They also have a good resource section for Aussie strawbale building. EG also sells a range of books on straw bale building.
One of Australia's leading building magazines. The magazine was stablished in 1982 and has been serving the interests of the owner builder ever since. Whether you are still thinking about buying a plot of land, planning and designing your home or already in the building phase, there will be something of interest. OB has regular articles on straw bale building.
John Swearingen is a wonderful strawbale builder and designer from California. Look up his projects page and be in awe!
Turko and Mob from Californa
Semmes & Co. Builders, San Luis Obispo County, California
Unique and creatively styled, environmentally friendly homes. By blending time-tested building techniques as well as the most current materials and technologies, these homes are durable, energy efficient and above all a delight to live in. Great builder and a good mate. Have a look around at what a real professional can do with a strawbale home.
Barbara Jones Amazon Nails
Have a look at the roundhouse that Barbara built in Ireland. Simply stunning!
Chug's World of Strawbale Building
This site will give you a heap of information relating to strawbale building in the U.K., including how to get involved, how to contact other like minded people, how to get started, what you need to know, what you need to do, and how to go about doing it. Chug also manages the Straw Bale Building Association's website.
Surfin' is now in the custody of the Masonry Heater Association . It hasn't been revised since the last century, so you might want to keep that in mind. (Plans for a big update are in the works though). Read the books if you want basic SB info, subscribe to The Last Straw if you want up-to-date info, and join the SB list if you want to yak with other SB folks. For everything else, we recommend using Google to sift through the web. Our search tips will help.
If you're just starting out with all this alternative building stuff be sure to look at this site. Home of the online Natural Building Colloquium: SB, earthbags, leaned brick, straw/clay — you name it — plus a great primer on natural building techniques, and lots of photos.
This is another site to use in deciding which products to choose when you build. It includes the Sustainable Building Sourcebook, which has great articles with contacts and hard data on lots of different building subjects.
This site has info on green products for you to use, including reviews. Don't miss their primer on sustainability, "What is Green Building?". They also sponsor the Greenbuilding List, a discussion group on the latest techniques and products with a professional slant.
Any site that begins with a Wendell Berry quote is all right by Chizz; Roy Prince's well-organized list of inks by subject; everything from strawbale to rammed earth to environmental illness.
OTHER RELATED WEB SITES:
Home & Interior Design :: Property Development
Every Aspect project is a carefully designed, craftsman-built masterpiece with key principles of a good flow in spaces, an inside/outside relationship & the correct aspect for passive solar design.
The above company has an Interesting and informative Australian housing web site.
Queensland Architect : Sustainable Home & Garden Design
Sustainable Pty Ltd: Bringing the Built Environment to Life. Specialising in Landscaping, Home & Garden Design in Brisbane, Queensland.
An interesting site with lots of good organic information. I personally like the information on chooks. Once you have built your straw bale home you will need good organic seeds for your permaculture garden. They are based in Maleny, SE Queensland, a beautiful part of Australia.
Nature's Child
is an environmentally-conscious website with info and resources regarding babies, children and parenting; operated from Byron Bay, Australia.
Strawbale FAQ
Skillful Means Builders of CA has a good site, as do CASBA, DSA Architects and Sustainable Earth Enterprises. If these don't answer your questions, it's time to read a book.
