Straw Bale And Adobe Solar Hybrid Home – Building With Awareness

This is an interesting small home project. It’s 830 square feet and built from straw bales and adobe. Adobe provides the thermal mass and the straw bales provide insulation. Aesthetics were a top priority and you can tell from the details that nothing was left unconsidered. The end product is a small energy efficient home that’s affordable to build.

Of course this style house is common in New Mexico, where the home was built, and building codes and the climate are perfect for building a home like this in that region. It may not be right for many other regions but the approach and story are still very interesting.

Construction on an adobe and/or straw bale home require a bit more effort than a stick built home but the final product is much more solid and comfortable due to the incredible thermal mass and insulation the materials provide. They can also be very inexpensive to built if you can contribute to the construction and get your building materials cheap. When I lived in New Mexico during college I helped a friend and former ceramics mentor, Dick Lumaghi, design and build a similar all adobe home so I have a little first hand experience with this type of home and can attest to their many benefits.

The DVD and Guidebook that document the construction of this hybrid straw bale and adobe home should give a good inside look at how one of these homes is built. If you’re considering building with straw bale and/or adobe this might be a good place to start learning more about the process. Photo credit Building With Awareness.