In the early '80s, Indigo Principal Jonathan Hammond designed and built a simple strawbale studio in the foothills of the Coast Range. Soon after construction, the structure was featured in "Fine Homebuilding", touching off a revolution of materials that reintroduced baled rice straw as a beautiful, renewable, and energy efficient building technique.
Strawbales are stacked and encased in reinforced lime-cement plaster to create sculptural walls that are 18-25" thick. This thick section of straw provides superior thermal and acoustic insulation, keeping interior spaces cool in summer and warm in winter. At the same time, these thick walls can be formed to modulate, diffuse, and reflect natural light.
The pleasing, sculptural walls of strawbale architecture evoke vernacular buildings of earth and stone. Yet, unlike earth and stone, strawbale walls are lightweight and easily reinforced for seismic stability. Beginning as a simple agricultural waste product, strawbale offers a uniquely beautiful, economical and environmentally responsible building material.