Straw Bale Building: How to Plan, Design and Build with Straw

Straw Bale Building:

by Chris Magwood and Peter Mack, 2000. New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island, B.C., Canada.

Paperback, 234 pages, $24.95.

Straw Bale Building makes a substantial contribution to the literature in many ways.

First and foremost, the book is authored (and published) by Canadians with a definite focus on cold-climate construction techniques. Second, the book offers an alternative to the Southwestern aesthetic most common to straw bale building—indeed, it includes a case study of prefabricated straw bale construction in inner city Minneapolis and an all-too-short discussion of applying straw bale construction to industrial and commercial applications. Third, code compliance is thoroughly addressed, supported by inclusion of the Arizona Straw Bale Building Code in the Appendices.

Straw Bale Building is written primarily for owner-builders. Central to the structure of the book is the presentation of “options” for builders to consider, taking into account location, budget, household needs, and code compliance. Magwood and Mack assist the reader in deciding whether owner building and straw bales are for them. But the book is also full of information and ideas suitable for a more experienced readership of building professionals. The layout of the book helps a great deal here. Throughout are strategically located sidebars offering alternative views, extracts of interviews, and detailed information on design and construction techniques.

Straw Bale Building is fairly comprehensive, with attention focused on actual construction techniques, and includes clear black-and-white photographs and illustrations. While not as lavish in presentation as

The Straw Bale House (see

EBN

Vol. 3, No. 6), this book’s design matches the prose style—lighthearted and warm—with an emphasis on affordability in (generally) cold climates. We especially appreciated the effort to consider the embodied energy of various building products and to address the virtues of each building element from the point of view of sustainability

.